THE 



L IIT E 



OF 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 




BY 



ABOTT A. ABOTT 



Author of " The Statesmen of America," &c. 



NEW YOEK : 
T. R. DAWLEY, PUBLISHER FOR THE ]\HLLION, 

13 AND 15 PARK ROW. 

1864. 



t4: 



ENTERED ACCORDING TO ACT OF CONGRESS, IN THE YEAR 1864, b! 

T. R. X) ^ ^\^ L E Y , 

IN THE clerk's OFFICE OF THE DISTRICT COURT OP THE UNITE: 

STATES, FOR THE SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK. 



T. R. Dawley, Steam Book, Job and Newspaper Printer, Electr 
typer, Stereotyper and Publisher. — Nos. 13 and 15 Park 
Row, New York. 



THE LIFE 

OP 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 



» > ^ • » <4 - 



CHAPTEE I. 

BIRTH AND PARENTAGE. 

Birth and Parentage. A Pioneers Life. Kentucky fifty years Ago. 
Removed to Indiana. Making Eoad.f. Farm Life. Flat-boating. Re- 
moved to lUinols He tends Shop. He grows as tall as a Pine. Flat- 
boating again. Grows tired of splitting rails. Off to the Black Hawk 
War. 

AbrahAxM Lincoln was born on the 12th of February, 
1809, and is now, therefore, past fifty-five years of age. 

His parents were Thomas Lincoln, born in Virginia, 
1778, and Nancy Hanks, also a Virginian, the date of 
whose birth is undetermined. 

The ancestors of Thomas Lincoln were of English de- 
scent, as their name indicates. We find the first traces of 
them in Pennsylvania, where, as Quakers, their faith na- 
turally led them to settle. 

About the year 1780, Abraham Lincoln, the grandfather 
of the subject of this volume, attracted by the accounts of 
the lovely and fertile country explored by Daniel Boo/ 



12 THE LIFE OP 

near the Kentucky rivei', set out with his wife and several 
young children to find a new home in that vicinity which 
after gained the name of the " Dark and Bloody Ground." 
Lincoln was a frontiers-man, and had for several years 
previous to his removal to Kentucky, felled the woods and 
cleared the land which formed his homestead in the She- 
nandoah Yalley of Virgioia— that valley since rendered so 
memorable in the war, which his grandson, the present 
Abraham, has conducted against the Southern rebels for 
Union and universal liberty. 

Kentucky was at that time a part of the Commonwealth 
of Virginia, so that in removing even so far away from his 
former home, Lincoln did not leave the State which had 
been his home for a time past, and in which his children 
had been born. ■» 

Lincoln's home was somewhere on Floyd's Creek, and 
probably near its mouth, in what is now Bullitt County, 
not far distant from the subsequent site of Louisville. 

The sanguine hopes he had entertained in regard to tho 
advantages of his new place of residence, were doomed 
never to be realized. The country was densely covered 
with pines, and infested with hostile Indians. Its fertility 
was inferior to that of the fair valley he had left behind 
him, while his pioneer labors had all to be begun over 
again. There were possibly other motives which induced 
his removal than those which proceeded from the hope of 
gaining a fairer field for his labor — but of these wo have 
heard no mention. If any existed, they most likely arose 
from the poverty and pecuniary difficulties of the man, and 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 13 

the fondness he shared, with all the colonists of the time, 
for adventure. 

His life was destined never to be passed in Kentucky. 
He had scarcely marked out his settlement, and com- 
menced to clear it, when he was killed and scalped by an 
Indian. 

His widow thus suddenly bereaved and in a strange 
land, had now their three sons and two daughters left to 
her sole protection and care. Fearing to remain in a 
neighborhood which proved so fatal to their happiness and 
welfare, this hardy woman removed a few ,miles further 
South with her family, to what some eight or ten years af- 
terwards became Washington County. There the soil was 
more fruitful, and the neighborhood more settled. The 
family throve apace, and all reached mature age in time. 
The three sons were named Mordecai, Josiah, and Thomas. 
The daughters married, one to a man named Crume, the 
other to one named Bromfield — both backwoodsmen. 

In 1792, Kentucky became a separate State. Its popu-' 
lation at the time numbered over a hundred thousand 
souls. Tins was scarcely thirty years after it was settled 
by Boone. A period of discontent had followed the forma- 
tion of the Federal government, caused partly by the in- 
efficiency of the protection afforded by Virginia and the 
old Federal Congress against the inroad of the savages, 
and partly by the fear lest the central government should 
surrender the right to navigate the Mississippi to its 
mouth. This right of navigation w^as then shared with 
France, wlio owned the territory of Louisiana, and was at 
that time, owing to the entire absence of railways, or any 



14 . THE LIFE OP 

kind of artificial highways to the sea-board, of the greatest 
consequence to the interior of the Union. 

In 1806, Thomas Lincoln, then twenty-eight years of 
age, married Nancy Hanks. 

Three years afterwards, our hero first came to light in 
, this world of mixed happiness and trouble. His parents 
were then living in Avhat is now La Rue County, still fur- 
ther South than where the family had removed after 
grandfather Abraham Lincoln's death. Before Abraham, 
a girl had been born, who was two years older, and who 
grew up to womanhood, married, and died — though still 
young. Two years afterwards Abraham's little brother 
came into the world, but died in early childhood. Abra- 
ham remembers to have visited the grave of this child, 
along with his mother, before leaving Kentucky. 

Laliue county, named from an early settler, John La- 
Rue, was set off and separately organized in 1843, the por- 
tion containing Mr. Lincoln's birthplace having been, up to 
that date, included in Hardin county. It is a rich grazing 
country in its more rolling or hilly parts, and the level 
surface produces good crops of corn and tobacco. In the 
northern borders of the country, on the Rolling Fork of 
Salt river, is Muldrow's Hill, a noted eminence. Hodgen- 
ville, near which Abraham was born, is a pleasantly situa- 
ted town on ISTolin creek, and a place of considerable busi- 
ness. About a mile above this town, on the creek, is a 
.mound, or knoll, thirty feet above the banks of the 
stream, containing two acres of level ground, at the top of 
which there is now a house. Some of the early pioneers 
encamped on this knoll ; and but a short distance from it 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 15 

a fort was erected by Philip Phillips, an emigrrnt from 
Penns^dvania, about 1780 or 1781, when the elder Lincoln 
arrived from Virginia. John La Pue came from the latter 
State with a company of emigrants, and settled, not far 
from the same date, at Phillips' Fort. Eobert Hodgen 
La Eue's brother-in-law, purchased and occupied the land 
on which Hodgenville is built. 

It is neediest to rehearse the kind of life in which Abra- 
ham Lincoln was here trained. The picture is similar in 
all such settlements. In his case, there was indeed the 
advantage of a generation or two of progress, since his 
grandfather had hazarded and lost his life in the then 
slightly broken wilderness. The State now numbered 
about 400,000 inhabitants, and had all the benefits of an 
efficient local administration, the w^ant of which had 
greatly increased the dangers and difficulties of the first 
settlers. Henry Clay, it may here be appropriately men- 
tioned, had already, though little more than thirty years 
of age, begun his brilliant political career, having then 
served tor a year or two in the United States Senate. 

Yet with all these changes, the humble laborers, settled 
near " Hodgen Mills." on ]N'olin creek, had no other lot 
but incessant toil, and a constant struggle with nature in 
the still imperfectly reclaimed wilds, for a plain subsist- 
ance. Here the boy spent the first years of his childhood. 
Before the date of his earliest distinct recollectiens, he re- 
moved with his father to a place six miles distant from 
Hodgenville, which was ere long to be surrendered, as we 
shall presently see, for a home in the far-off wilderness, 



16 THE LIFE OP 

and for frontier life, in its fullest and most siccnificant 



•&• 



The period of Abraham Lincoln's Kentucky life extends 
through a little more than seven years, terminating with 
the autumn of 1816. , 

In those days there were no common schools in that 
country, but education was by no meass disregarded, nor 
did young Lincoln, poor as were his opportunities, grow 
up an illiterate boy, as some have supposed. Competent 
teachers were accustomed to offer themselves then, as in 
later years, who opened private schools for a neighbor- 
hood, being supporsed by tuition or subscription. During 
his boyhood days in Kentucky. Abraham Lincoln at- 
tended, at different times, at least rwo schools of this de- 
scription, of which he has clear recollections. One of them 
was kept by Zacharia Einey, a Eoman Catholic. But al- 
though this teacher was himself an ardent Catholic, he 
made no proselyting efforts i.i his school. Father Einc}^ 
was probably in some way connected with the movement of 
the " Trappists," who came to Kentucky in the autumn of 
1805, and founded an establishment ( abandoned some 
years later) under Urban Guillet, as superior, on Pottin- 
ger's Creek. They were active in promoting education, 
especially among the poorer classes, and had a school for 
boys under their immediate supervision. This, however, 
had been abandoned before the date of Lincoln's first 
school-days, and it is not improbable that the private 
schools under Catholic teachers were an offshoot of the 
original system adopted by these Trappists, who subse- 
queuLly removed to Illinois. 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN. , 17 

Another teacher, on whose instructions the boy after- 
wards attended, while living in Kentucky, was named Ca- 
leb Hazel. His was also a neighborhood school, sustained 
by private patronage. 

With the aid of these two schools, and with such further 
assistance as he received at home, there -is no doubt that 
he had become able to read well, though without having 
made any great literary progress, at the age of seven. 
That he was not a dull or inapt scholar, is manifest from 
his subsequent attainments. With the alluremenes of the 
rifle and the wild game which then abounded in the 
country, however, and with the meagre advantages he 
had, in regard to books, it is certain that his perceptive 
faculties and his muscular powers, were much more fully 
developed by exercise than his scholastic talents. 

While he lived in Kentucky, he never saw even the ex- 
terior of what was properly a church edifice. The reli- 
gious services he attended were held either at a private 
dwelling, or in some log school-house. 

Unsatisfactory results of these many years' toil on the 
lands of JSTolin Creek, or a restless spirit of adventure and 
fondness for more genuine pioneer excitements than this 
region continued to afford, led Thomas Lincoln, now verg- 
ing on the age of forty, and his son beginning to be of es- 
sential service in manual labor, to seek a new place of 
abode, far to the west, beyond the Ohio river. 

Early in the autumn of 1816, Thomas Lincoln deter- 
mined to pull up stakes as his fathers had done, and emi- 
grate to some new wild. The game was getting scarce, 
and people began to live uncomfortably near to each 



18 ' THE LIFE OP 

other. A backwoodsman can eDdiire a neighbor within 
twent}^ miles or so of him, but when they begin to settle 
any closer, he feels too much crowded, and moves away 
to lonelier wilds. 

Crossing the Ohio, then called the Beautiful River by 
the Indians, in an emigrant's wagon, the mother and 
daughter huddled with their beds and household utensils 
in the body of the vehicle, the father driving the jaded 
team, and the stripling keeping the indispensable cow up 
to her proper pace, his adventurous family safely reached 
the Indiana shore by means of a raft. They landed at the 
mouth of Anderson's Creek, about 140 miles below Louis- 
ville, by the river, but hardly 100 miles from their for- 
mer " clearing." 

Here their difficulties began. They were destined to a 
point near the present town of Yentryville, some twenty 
miles back from the river. The whole intermediate dis- 
tance was a dense forest. There was no help for it; the 
road had to be cut through with the axe. 

The stor}^ goes that T-homas sold his farm in Kentucky 
for a lot of whiskey, but we can find no substantial evi- 
dence for this version. His whiskey is said to have been 
lost while crossing the Ohio. But we discredit the entire 
tale. 

In a week's time the arduous journey was performed, 
and the big-fisted Kentuckian had the satisfaction of reach- 
ing the scene of his future hopes without any further 
accident. During this period the lanky young Abraham, 
shoeless and hatless, made himself generally useful in 
A pair of breeches a world too wide for his shrunken shanks. 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 19 

These breeches, reaching nearly to his neck, were sup- 
ported by a single short strap over his shoulder, and with 
a checked shirt Avhich the owner had neglected to send to 
the laundry for a long time, made up the entire costume 
of the future president of the United States. 

Fortune plays queer tricks with us all, but she never 
committed a more extraordinary freak than when she 
made this little ragged urchin the chief magistrate of a 
great nation. 

Indiana, at this date, was still a Territory, having been 
originally united under the same government with Illinois, 
after the admission of Ohio as a State. " the first-born of 
the great JSTorth-west,'' 1802. A separate territorial or- 
ganization was made for each in 1809. A few months be- 
fore the arrival of Thomas Lincoln, namel}^ in June, 1816, 
pursuant to a Congressional " enabling act," a Convention 
had been held which adopted a State Constitution, pre- 
paratory to admission into the Union. Under this Con- 
stitution, a month or two later, in December, 1816, Indi- 
ana became, by act of Congress, a sovereign State. ^ 

The next thirteen j^ears Abraham Lincoln spent here, in 
Southern Indiana, near the Ohio, nearly midway between 
Louisville and Evansville. He was now old enough to 
begin to take an active part in the farm labors of his 
father, and he manfully performed his share of hard work. 
He learned to use the axe and to hold the plough. He 
became inured to all the duties of seed-time and harvest. 
On many a day, during every one of those thirteen years, 
this Kentucky boy might have been seen with a long 
" gad " in his hand, driving his father's team in the field, 



20 THE LIFE OP 

or from the woods with a heavy draught, or on the rough 
path to the ruill, the store, or the river-landing. 

A vigorous constitution, and a cheerful, unrepining dis- 
position, made all his labors comparatively light. To 
such a one, this sort of life has in it much of pleasant ex- 
citement to compensate for its hardships. He learned to 
derive enjoj^ment from the severest lot. 

At occasional intervals Abraham derived instruction in 
the rudiments from the school teachers of the neighbor- 
hood. A Mr. Crawford had one, and a Mr. Dorsey 
another. 

That we may estimate Mr. Lincoln in his true charac- 
ter, as chiefly a self-educated man, it should be stated 
that, summing up all the days of his actual attendance 
upon school instruction, the amount would hardly exceed 
one year. ^ The rest he had accomplished for himself in his 
own way. As a youth he read with avidit}^ such instruc- 
tive works as he could obtain, and in winter evenings 
read them by the mere light of the blazing fire-place, when 
no better resource was at hand. 

An incident having its appropriate connection here, and 
illustrating several traits of the man, as already developed 
in early boyhood, is vouched for by a citizen of Evans- 
ville, who knew him in the days referred to. In his 
eagerness to acquire knowldege, young Lincoln had bor- 
rowed of Mr. Crawford a copy of Weems' Life of Wash- 
ington — the only one known to be in existence in the 
neighborhood- Before he had finished reading the book, 
it had been left, by a not unnatural oversight, in a win- 
dow. Meantime, a rain storm came on, and the book was 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 21 

SO thoroughly wet as to make it nearly worthless. This 
mishap caused him much pain ; but he went, in all hones- 
ty, to Crawford, with the ruined book, explained the 
calamity that had happened through his neglect, and of- 
fered, not having sufficient money, to "work out" the 
value of the book. 

" Well, Abe," said Crawford, " as it's you I won't be 
hard on you. Come over and pull fodder for me for two 
days, and we will call our accounts even." 

The offer Avas accepted and the engagement literally 
fulfilled. 

The book was of course worth the labor. There is 
therefore nothing to be admired in the waj^ of generosity. 
But the honorable part of the incident lies in the quick 
acknowledgment of the injury Abraham had caused to 
the book, and the eagerness he displayed to furnish an 
equivalent for it to its owner. 

At the age of nineteen, Abraham, tired of the farm and 
longing ior^'aaventure, with an eye, too, to profit, tried 
his hand at flat-boating. He sailed down the Ohio and 
the Mississippi on a raft, doing service as one of the labor- 
ers. Naturally lively and fond of a joke, the vocation 
rather improved his faculties of humor. He worked, 
sang, danced, cracked jokes, wrestled, fished, cooked his 
own meals, and made himself agreeable and loveable with 
all. The incidents of this voyage to New Orleans and 
back have since formed the groundwork for many of the 
statesman's sallies of wit. 

If there had been any forebodings at the time of depar- 
ture from their first homie on Nolin Creek, these were to 



22 THE LIFE OP 

be ere-long realized by the Indiana emigrants. Scarcely 
two years had passed, in this changed climate, and in 
these rougher forest experiences, before the mother of 
young Abraham was called to a lastsepcration from those 
she had so tenderl}^ loved. She died in 1818, leaving as 
her sole surviving chi dren, a daughter less than twelve 
years old, and a son two years younger, of whose future 
distinction, the humble son probabl}^ never had the re- 
motest droam. A ycav later, Thomas Lincoln married 
another wife, a Mrs. Johnston. This person was a widow 
with three children, all of whom were adopted by their 
step-father and became members of the family. 

Abraham's life upon his return from New Orleans, and 
was before — the life of a farm boy, laborious and event- 
less. 

Thus it was that he grew up to the verge of man- 
hood ; he led no idle or enervating existence. Accus- 
tomed to steady labor, no one of all the workingmen with 
with whom he came in contact was a better sample of his 
class than he. He had now become a Saul amouo; the 
pioneers, having reached the height of nearl}^ six feet and 
four inches, and with a comparatively slender yet uncom- 
monly strong, and muscular frame. 

In the spring of 1830, Thomas L'ncoln resolved to emi- 
grate once more. His brother had previously removed to 
more northern locations in Indiana. This, and his fond- 
ness for change, and the hope of better fortune, induced 
him to leave the hills of Indiana for the flat prairie lands 
of Illinois. Mordccai had died in Hancock County. Jo>siah 
still lived in Hamilton Countv. 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 23 

The journey was accomplished in fifteen days. The 
spot sek^cted was on the north side of Sangamon Eiver. 

Illinois had but just begun to be occupied, and only 
along the banks of the principle streams, in order to 
secure the advantages of wood and water, with both of 
which the interior of the State is but poorly supplied. 

Assisted by a man name John Hunter, Abraham was 
deputed to split the rails for fencing the new farm. These 
are the rails about which so much was said in the late 
Presidential campaign. "'Their existence," says Mr. 
Scrij^ps, " was brought to the public attention during the 
sitting of the Eepublican State Convention, at Decatur, on 
which occasio 1 a banner, attached to tAvo of these rails, 
and bearing an appropriate inscription was brought into 
the assemblage and formally presented to that body, amid 
a scene of unparalleled enthusiasm. After that they were 
in demand io every State of the Union in which free labor 
is honored, where they were borne in processions of the 
people, and hailed by hundreds of thousands of freemen, 
as a symbol of triumph, and as a glorious vindication of 
freedom, and of the rights and the dignity of free labor- 
These, however, were far from being the first or only rails 
made by Lincoln. He was a practised hand at the busi- 
ness. His first lessons were taken while yet a boy in In- 
diana. 

For some unexplained reason, the family did not remain 
on this place but a single year. Abraham was now of age, 
and w^hen, in the spring of 1831, his father set out for 
Coles county, sixty or seventy miles to the eastward, on 
the upper v/aters of the Kaskaskia and Embarras, a separ- 



24 THE LIFE OF 

ation took place, the son for the first time assuming his 
independence, and commencing life on his own account. 
The scene of these labors he has not since visited. Hi^ 
father was soon after comiortably settled in the place to 
which he had turned his course, and spent the remainder 
of his adventurous days there, arriving at a good old age. 
He died in Coles county, on the 17th day of January, 
1851, being in his seventy-third year. The farm on th^ 
Sangamon subsequently Came into the possession of a man 
named Whitley, who also erected a mill in the vicinity. 

While there was snow on the ground, at the close of the 
year 1830 or early in 1831, a man came to that pax't of 
Macon county where young Lincoln was living, in pur- 
suit of hands to aid him in a flat-boat voyage down the 
Mississippi. The fact was known that the youth had once 
made such a trip, and his services were sought for the oc- 
casion. As one who had his own subsistence to earn, 
with no capital but his hands, and with no immediate op- 
portunities for commencing professional study, if his 
thoughts had as yet been turned in that direction, he ac- 
cepted the proposition made him. Perhaps there was 
something of his inherited and acquired fondness for ex- 
citing adventure, impelling him to this decision. With 
him, were also employed, his former fellow-laborer, John 
Hanks, and a son of his step-mother, named John John- 
son. In the spring of 1831, Lincoln set out to fulfill his 
engagement. The floods had so swollen the streams that 
the Sangamon country was a vast sea before. His first 
entrance into that country was over these wide-spread 
waters, in a canoe. The time had come to join his em- 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 25 

ploj'cr on bis journey to IN'ew Orleans, but tbe latter bad 
been disappointed by anotbor person on wbom be relied 
to furnisb bim a boat, on tbe Illinois river. Accordingly, 
all bands set to work and tbemselves built a boat, on tba^ 
river for tbeir purposes. This done, tbey set out on tbeir 
long trip, making a successful voyage to New Orleans and 
back. It is reported by bis friends, tbat Mr. Lincoln re- 
fers witb mucb pleasant bumor to tbis early experience' 
so relating some of its incidents as to afford abundant 
amusement to bis auditors. In trutb, be was a youtb 
wbo could adapt bimself to tbis or any otber bonest work, 
wbicb bis circumstances required of bim, and witb a 
cbeerfulness and alacrity — a certain practical bumor — 
rarely equalled. He could turn off tbe bardest labor as a 
mere pastime ; and bis manly presence, to otber laborers, 
was as a constant inspiration and a cbarm to ligbten tbeir 
burdens. 

It was midsummer wben tbe flat-boatman returned 
from tbis, bis second and last trip, in tbat capacity. Tbe 
man wbo bad commanded tbis little expedition now under- 
took to establish bimself in business at New Salem, twenty 
miles below Springfield, in Menard county — a place of 
more relative consequence tben tban now — two miles 
from Petersburg, tbe county seat. He bad found young 
Lincoln a person of sucb sort tbat be was anxious to se- 
cure bis services in tbe new enterprise be was about to 
embark in. He opened a store at New Salem, and also a 
mill iQv flouring grain. For want of otber immediate em- 
ployment, and in tbe same spirit wbicb bad heretofore 
actuated bim, Abraham Lincoln now entered upon tbe 



26 THE LIFE OP 

duties of a clerk, having an eye to both branches of the 
business carried on by his employer. This connection 
lasted for nearly a 3- ear, all the duties of his position being 
faithfully and cheerfully performed. 

Some how or other this country grocer did not succeed, 
and the Black Hawk War breaking out about this time, 
young Lincoln, always ready for adventure, left the shop, 
and volunteered for service against the Indians. 



CHAPTER II. - 

THE VOLUN TEER . 

Breaking out of the Black Hawk War. Lincoln volunteers. He id 
chosen Captain. Vicisitudes of the campaign. Battle of the Bad-Aze. 
End of the volunteers first campaign. 

In the spring -of '"'1831, Black Hawk, unmindful of his 
treaty to remain west of the Mississippi, and charging bad 
faith upon the whites, re^crossed the river with all his 
tribe, the women and children included, and sought to re- 
turn to his old hunting-grounds in the Rock river coun- 
try. He was assisted by allies from the Kickapoo and 
Pottawatomie tribes. These, with the Sacs, made up a 
force of some three hundred fighting men. 

At this time Abraham Lincoln was clerking it in the 
' store'' in Menard county. 

In response to the representations of Gov. Reynolds, to 
whom the settlers applied for protection. Gen. Gaines, 
commander of the United States forces in that quarter, 
took prompt and decisive measures to expel these invaders 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 27 

from the State. With a few companies of regular soldiers, 
Gen. Gaines at once took up his position at Eock Island, 
and at his call, several hundred volunteers, assembled 
from the northern and central i^arts of the State, upon 
the proclamation of Gov. Eeynold's, joined him a month 
later. His little army, distributed into two regiments, an 
additional batalion, and a spy batalion, was the most 
formidable military force yet seen in the new State. The 
expected battle did not take place, the Indians having 
suddenly and stealthily retired again, in their canoes, 
across the river. The troops had been advanced to Van- 
druff's Island, opposite the Indian town, where the en- 
gagement was anticiijated, and there was much dissatisfac- 
tion among the volunteers, and some complaints against 
the generals, Gaines and Duncan for permitting the enemy 
to escape. 

Negotiations soon followed. It was sought to restrain 
Black Hawk from ever again crossing the river. Threats 
and promises were freely used, and for a time both had the 
effect intended. A treaty was entered into by which the 
chief agreed that he and his tribe should ever after re- 
main on the west side of the river, unless by permission 
of the State Governor, or of the President. Thus was the 
treaty of 1804 reaffirmed, by which the lands they were 
claiming had been distinctly conveyed to the United States 
Government, which, in turn, had sold them to the present 
settlers. 

In express violation, however, of this second deliberate 
engagement, Black Hawk and his followers began, early 
in the spring of 1832, to make preparations for another 



28 THE LIFE OP 

invasion. Many and grevious wrongs have undoubtedly 
been inflicted upon the savage tribes, by the superior race 
that has gradually, but steadily driven the former from 
their ancient homes. But the bad faith shown in this 
case, and the repeated violation of deliberate agreements, 
was wholly without justification or excuse, l^o provica- 
tion or plausible pretext had arisen after the treaty of the 
previous June ; yet Black Hawk, under the misguided in- 
fluence and false rej^resentations of the " Prophet," who 
persuaded him to believe that the British (to whom Black 
Hawk had always been a fast friend), as well as the Otta- 
was, Chippowas, Winnebagoes and Pottowatomies would 
aid them in regaining their village and the adjoining 
lands. Under this delusion, to which the wiser Eeokuk 
refused to become a dupe, though earnestly invited to 
join them, 'Black Hawk proceeded to gather as strong a 
force as possible. He first established his headquarters at 
the old site of fort Madison, west of the Mississippi. 
After his preparations had been completed, he proceed- 
ed u]> the river with his women and children, his property 
and camp equipage, in canoes, while his warrior armed 
and mounted, advanced by laud. In spite of a warning 
he had received that there was a strong force of white 
soldiers at Fort Armstrong, on Rock Island, he continued 
on to the mouth of Eock river, where, in utter reckless- 
ness and bad faith — paying, not the slightest regard to his 
solemn agreeir.ent of the last year — the whole party 
crossed to the east side of the Mississipj)i, with a declared 
purpose of ascending Eock river to the territory of the 
Winnebagoes. This was in the early part of April, 1822. 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 29 

Black Hawk, after he bad gone some distance up this 
river, was overtaken by a messenger from Gen. Atkinson, 
who had command of the troops on Eock Island, and 
ordered to return bej^ond the Mississippi. This was defi- 
antly refused. 

Gov. Reynolds again issued a call for volunteers to pro- 
tect the settlers from this invasion. A company was 
promptly raised in Menard county, in the formation of 
which, Abraham Lincoln was one of the most active. 
From Kew Salem, Clary's Grove, and elswhere in the 
vicinity, an efficient force was gathered, and in making 
their organizatien, Lincoln was elected captain. 

They first marched to Beardstown. Here 1800 men 
were speedily assembled and organized into four regi- 
ments, with an additional spy battalion. Gen. Sam. White- 
side was in command. Gen. James D. Henry was placed 
at the head of the spy battalion. 

On the 27th of April they left Beardstown and marched 
to Oquawka, and thence to the mouth of Eock river. After 
inarching fifty miles up the river they arrived at the 
Prophet's village, w^hich they left in flames, and then 
pushed forward to Dixon's Ferry, forty miles farther up, 
where the Indians were supposed to be. On the way 
tliey were joined by 275 more men from McLean, Pecona 
and other counties. 

On the 12th of Majf their advance guard skirmished 
v/ith, and killed three Indians. Black Hawk, his skir- 
mishers, and the whites did the same. In a short time 
the engagement employed some five hundred men from 
each side. It resulted in a complete rout of the whites, 



30 THE LIFE OP 

and is known to day as the unfortunate aifair of " Still- 
man's Defeat." 

A council of war was held, and it was determined to 
renew the battle the next morning, but when the whtes 
arrived at the scene of action the wiley savages had dis- 
appeared. 

After this attempt to fall in with the enemy and give 
him battle, Gren. Whiteside, having buried the dead of the 
da}^ before, returned to camp, where he was joined, next 
day, by Gen. Atkinson, with his troops and supplies. 
The numbers of the army were thus increased to twenty- 
four hundred, and a few weeks more would have enabled 
this force to bring the war to a successful close. But 
many of the volunteers, whose time had nearly expired, 
were eager to be discharged. They had seen quite enough 
of the hardships of a campaign, which, without bringing 
as yet any glory, had turned out in reality quite different 
from what their imagination had foretold. With the pre- 
vailing discontents, but one course was possible. The 
volunteers were marched to Ottawa, where they were dis- 
charged by Gov. Eeynolds, on the 27th and 28th of May. 

Gov. Eeynolds had previously issued a call for two 
thousand new volunteers to assemble at Beardstown and 
Hennepin. In accordance with the wishes of Lincoln and 
others, who were still ready to bear their share of the 
campaign to its close, the Governor also asked for the 
formation of a volunteer regiment from those just dis- 
charged. Lincoln promptly enrolled himself as a private, 
as did also General Whiteside. , 

Before the arrival of the other levies, a skirmishing 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 31 

fight with the Indians was had at Burr Oak Grove, on the 
18th of June, in which the enemy was defeated, with con- 
siderable loss, and on the side of the volunteers, two 
killed and one wounded. 

The whites now numbered 3200 volunteers and a force 
of regulars under Gen. Atkinson, of the regular army. 

Meanwhile, Black Hawk had concentrated his forces at 
tlie Four Lakes, tired of being hunted down, and resolved 
to try the issue of the war in a general engagement. But 
some how or other, the whites never succeeded in finding 
their enemj^ * 

Nearly two months had now passed since the opening of 
the campaign, and its purpose seemed as remote from ac- 
complishment as ever. The new volunteers had many of 
them become discontented, like the former ones. Their 
number had in fact become reduced one-half. The weari- 
some marches, the delays, the privations and exposures, 
had proved to them that this service was no pastime, and 
that its romance was not what it seemed in the distance. 
They sickened of such service, and were glad to escape 
from its restraints. Not so^ however, with Lincoln, w^ho 
had found in reality the kind of exciting adventure which 
his spirit craved. While others murmured and took their 
departure, he remained true and persistent, no less eager 
for the fray, or ambitious to play a genuine soldier's part, 
than at the beginning. To him it had been what his 
imagination painted, and he had a hearty earnestness in 
his work that kept him cheerful, and strongly attached 
others to him. 

Just here Abraham Lincoln's campaign ended. He was 



32 THE LIFE OP 

not destined to share in any encounter with the enemy be- 
yond what WG have already mentioned. The forces were 
divided and dispersed, and one portion shortl}^ after meet- 
ing with the Indians, a battle ensued, and the war was 
over. This will be related in a few words : 

Two days after their separation news was received 
by that portion of the whites from which Lincoln's com- 
pany had been separated that Black Hawk was thirty 
miles above their camp on Eock river. A plan of Generals 
Alexander, Henry, and others, to take him by surprise, 
without awaiting orders, was frustrtited by their troops 
refusing to follow them. Gen. Henry finally set out in 
pursuit of the Indians, on the 15th of July, but was mis- 
led by treachery. He continued on for several days, ac- 
quiring better information, passing the beautiful country 
around the Four Lakes, the present site of Madison, Wis- 
consin, and after another day's hard march came close 
upon the retreating Indians, and finally overtook them on 
the 21st. They were immediately charged upon, and 
driven alona; the hio-h bluifs of the Wisconsin, and down 
upon the river bottom. The Indians lost sixty-eight 
killed, and of the large number wounded twenty-five were 
afterwards found dead on their trail leading to the Missis- 
sippi. The regulars, in this engagement on the Wiscon- 
sin, were commanded by Gen. (then Col.) Zachary Taylor^ 
afterward President of the United States. Gen. Henry, 
of Illinois, and Col. Dodge, (afterward L^nited States Sen- 
ator), were chief commanders of the volunteers. 

Waiting two days at the Blue Mounds, the forces still in 
the field were all united, and a hard pursuit resumed 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 33 

through the forests, down the Wisconsin. On the foiirtn 
day, they reached the Mississippi, which some of the In- 
dians had already crossed, while others were preparing to 
do so. The battle of the Bad-Ax here brought the war to 
a close, with the capture of Black Hawk and his surviving 
warriors. 

Lincoln never set up any claims to heroism in this, his 
only campaign as a soldier, but he believed he did his 
duty, and so did others. Perhaps if he had the opportun- 
ity ho might have turned out quite a redoubtable warrior; 
but it was all for the best, for he might have been diverted 
from that career of usefulness which he afterwards pur- 
sued in quieter ways. 

Sarcastically commenting on the efforts of Gen. Cass's 
biographers to make the old Statesman a military hero, 
Lincoln, in a congressional speech, delivered during the 
canvas of 1848, said : 

''By the way, Mr. Speaker, did you know I am a mili- 
tary hero y Yes, sir, in the days of the Black Hawk war, 
I fought, bled, and came away. Speaking of Gen. Cass's 
career, reminds me of my own. I was not at Stillman's 
defeat, but I was aboiit as near it as Cass to Hull's sui*- 
render ; and like him, I saw the place very soon after- 
w^ard." 

This never failing humor of Abraham Lincoln, no doubt 
has done as much as anything to make him a general 
favorite. It is said that a man that is fond of music can 
never be a conspirator or a traitor. We might extend the 
rule, and say, that one who is always good natured and 
humorous, is alike incapable of double dealing or plotting. 



34 THE LIFE OP 

At least, so think the multitude, and they are not often 
wrong. 

Whether it was this characteristic, so highly prizeu 
among our countrymen, or the scrupulous honesty which 
attacoed itself to allof the young pioneer's dealings, we do 
not know but Abraham Lincoln at this time came to be 
called Honest Abe. It is a good sign for him when a man 
earns this handle to his name, and is a sure forerunner of 
fortune and honor. 



CHAPTER III. 

THE POLITICIAN. 

Abraham becomes a politician: Takes to surveying. Sells his instru- 
ments at auction. Studies laiu. Is beaten at an election. Htms again 
and .succeeds. Elected /our times to the legislature. Stumps the State for 
Henry Clay. His oratorical powers. His appearance and personal 
habits. 

After his return from the Black Hawk War, Abraham 
began to cast about him for something to do. His mili- 
tary campaign had infused that self-confidence within 
him to which he had hitherto been a stranger. Chosen as 
captain above a hundred of his fellows, it would be strange 
if the youth did not begin to have some aspirations for 
distinction in life. He accordingly began to make himself 
acquainted with the political machinery of elections and 
to study the complexions of parties, and take his position 
among them according to the opinions he held. 

Lincoln was an ardent admirer of the then newly fa- 
mous Henry Clay of Kentucky, and it took him but little 



, ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 35 

'me to enrol himself fimong his numerous followers and 
oj^posre the Democratic party, who at that time advocated 
,Ge^ Jackson for the presidency. 

"^InJl834 he ran for the Illinois legislature, but was de- 
dicated. 

Meanwhile, he pursued the business of land surveyor, 
as Washington had done before him, but with such little 
success that he was at one time compelled to sell his 
surveying instruments at auction in order to keep soul and 
body together. He was at the same time studying laW) 
and his abandonment of surveying only made him more 
anxious to succeed with his books and his degree. \^IIis 
political aspirations were not without success even then, 
for in consequence of his popularity on the occasion of his 
defeat, (hicking only seven votes of election) he received 
^e appointment of postmaster at New Salem, Illinois. 

In lESB-iie ran again for the legislature, and this time 
was^successful.i In 1838 and 1840 he was re-elected to the 
same office. '^ 

During this part of his career as a politician, it is inter, 
esting to notice the care he took even when a young man 
to avoid identifying himself with the theoretical abolition- 
ists of the da}^, and yet to place himself on the record aa 
a firm lover of liberty for all men when time and circum* 
stances favored emancipation measures. 
^Puring the spring of 1837, revolutions of a pro-slavery 
character had been adopted by the majority of the Illin- 
ois legislature. These of course would have affixed the 
character of theoretical abolitionists to those who voted 
against them. In order to extricate himself from a posi- 



36 ■ THE LIFE OF 

tion Avbich he at that time considered unwise, he joined 
with a Mr. Stone in the following protest on the subject: 

March 3d, 1837. 

The following protest was presented to the House, 
which was read and ordered to be spread on the jouanais, 
to wit : 
f " Eesolutions upon the subject of domestic slavery hav- 
ing passed both branches of the General Assembly, at its 
present session, the undersigned hereby protest against 
the passage of the same. 

"They believe that the institution of slavery is founded 
on both injustice and bad polic}" ; but that the promulga- 
tion of abolition doctrines tends ratlier to increase than 
abate its evils. 

'•They believe that the Congress of the United States 
has no power, under the Constitution, to interfere with 
the institution of slavery in the different States, 

" They believe that the Congress of the United States 
has the j^ower, under the Constitution, to abolish slavery 
in the District of Columbia ; but that the power ought not 
to be exercised, unless at the request of the people of said 
District. 

" The difference between these opinions and those con- 
tained in the said resolutions, is their reason for entering 
this protest. 

" (Signed) 

*' Dan. Stone, 
" A, Lincoln, 

^' Bepresentatives from the County of Sangamon.''* 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 37 

\Ja;i J836, he had obtained a license to practice law, and 
in April, ^837, removed to Springfield and opencc[^auhvw 
office, in partnership with Major John F. Stuart. He rose 
rapidly to distinction in the profession, and was especially 
eminent a^ an advocate in jury trials, in consequence of 
the rare power he possessed of making himself under- 
stood by his auditors, and appealing to tlieir sense of fair- 
ness and justice in the cause he represented. 

Th's quality as an orator he has ,ever wielded with suc- 
cess, and in fact has been the corner-stone of his advance- 
ment and elevation. 

We trust the example thus afforded to American youth 
will not be lost upon them. There is no accomplishment 
capable of yielding so rich a return in this land of democ- 
racy and popular freedom, than that one which makes us 
the exponent, the mouth-pieces, and afterwards the advo- 
cate and leader of the masses. 

After Abraham Lincoln's repeated service in the legis- 
lature of his adopted State, he was several times a candi- 
date for Presidential elector, and as such in 1844 he can- 
vassed the entire State, together with part of Indiana, in 
behalf of Henry Clay, making almost daily speeches to 
large audiences. 

At this time he was very plain in his costume, as well 
as rather uhcourtly in his address and general appear- 
ance. His clothing was of homely Kentucky jean, and 
the first impression made by his tall, lank figure, upon 
those who saw him was not specially prepossessing. He 
had not outgrown his hard backwoods experience, and 
showed no inclination to disguise or to cast behind him 



38 THE LIFE OP 

f 

the honest and man y, though unpolished characteristics 

of his earlier days. Never was a man further removed 
from all snobbish affectation. As little was there, also, of 
the demagogue art of assuming an uncouthness or rusti- 
city of manner and outward habit, with the mistaken no- 
tion of thus securing particular favor as one of the masses. 
He chose to appear then, as he has at all times since, pre- 
cisel}^ what he was. Ilis deportment was unassuming, 
without any awkwardness of reserve. 
I ' i First elected at twenty-five, he had continued in office 
:- without interruption so long as his inclination allowed, 
and until, by his uniform courtes}' and kindness of man- 
ners, his marked ability, and his straight-forward integ- 
rity, he had won an enviable repute throughout tiie State, 
and was virtuall}", when but a little past thirty, placed at 
the head of his party in Illinois. -• 

Begto inxtmiparative obscuaity, and without any adven- 
titious aids in its progress, this period of his life, at its 
termination, had brought him to a position where he was 
secure in the confidence of the people, and prepared, in 
due time, to enter upon a more enlarged and brilliant ca- 
reer, as a national statesman. His fame as a close and 
convincing debater was established. His native talent as 
an orator had at once been demonstrated and disciplined. 
His zeal and earnestness in behalf of a party whose prin- 
ciples he believed to be right, had rallied strong troops of 
political friends about him, while his unfeigned modesty 
and his unpretending and simple bearing, in marked con- 
trast with that of so many imperious leaders, had won 
him general and lasting esteem. He preferred no claim 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 39 

as a partisan, and showed no overweening anxiety to ad- 
vance liiniiself, but was always a disinterested and gen- 
erous co-woricer with his associates, only ready to accept 
the post of honor and of responsibility wlicn it was clearly 
their will, and satisfactory to the peo])le whose interests 
were involved. At the close of this period, with scarcely 
any consciousness of the fact himself, and with no noisy 
demonstrations or flashy ostentations in his behalf from 
his friends, he was reallj" one of the foremost political men 
in the State. A keen observer might even then have pre- 
dicted a great future for the " Sangamon Chief," as people 
have been wouu to call him; and only such an observer, 
perhaps, would then have adequately estimated his real 
power as a natural orator, a sagacious statesman, and a 
gallant TPaBUNE of the people. 

The following incident, of which the narration is believ- 
ed to be substantially accurate, is from the pen of one who 
professes to write from personal knowledge. It is given 
in this connection, as at once illustrating th? earlier strug- 
gles of Mr. Lincoln in acquiring his profession, the char- 
acter of his forensic efforts, and the generous gratitude 
and disinterestedness of his nature : 

Having chosen the law^ as his future calling, he devoted 
himself assiduously to its mastery, contending at every 
step with adverse fortune. During this period of study, 
he for some time found a home under the hosj.itable roof 
of one Armstrong, a farmer, wdio lived in a log house some 
eight miles from the village of Petersburg, in Menard 
county. Here, young Lincoln would master his lessons 
by the firelight of the cabin, and then walk to town for 



40 ^ THE LIFE OF 

the purpose of recitation. This man Armstrong was him- 
self poor, but he saw the genuis struggling in the young 
student, and opened to him his rude home, and bid him 
welcome to his rude fare. How Lincoln graduated with 
promise — how he has more than fulfilled that promise — 
how honorably he acquitted himself, alike on the battle- 
field, in defending our border settlements against the 
ravages of savage foes, and in the halls of our national 
legislature, are matters of history, and need no repetition 
here. But one little incident of a more private nature, 
standing as it does as a sort of sequel to some things al- 
ready alluded to, I deom worthy of record. Some few 
years since, the oldest son of Mr. Lincoln's old friend 
Armstrong, the chief support of his widowed mother — 
the good old man having some time previously passed 
from earth — was arrested on the charge of murder. A 
young man had been killed during a riotous melee, in the 
night-timo, at a camp-meeting, and one of his associates 
stated that the death-v/ound was inflicted by young Arm- 
strong. A preliminary examination was gone into, at 
which the accuser testified ^o positively, that there seem- 
ed no doubt of the guilt of the prisoner, and therefore he 
was held for trial. As is too often the case, the bloody 
act caused an undue degree of excitement in the public 
mind. Every improper incident in the life of th€5 prisoner 
— each act which bore the least semblance of rowdyism — 
each school-boy quarrel — was suddenly remembered and 
magnified, until they pictured him as a fiend of the most 
horrid hue. As these rumors spread abroad, they were 
received as gospel truth, and a feverish desire for veu- 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 4! 

geance seized upon the infatuated populace, \^hile only 
prison-bars prevented a horrible death at the hands of the 
mob. The events were heralded in the newspapers, paint- 
ed in highest colors, accompanied by rejoicing over the 
certainty of punishment being meted out to the guilty 
party. The prisoner, overwhelmed by the circumstances 
in which he found himself placed fell into a melancholy 
condition, bordering upon despair; and the widowed 
mother, lo king through her tears, saw no cause for hope 
from earthly aid. 

At this juncture, the widow received a letter from Mr. 
Lin col ', volunteering his serv'ces in an effort to save the 
youth from the impending stroke. Gladly was his aid 
accepted, although it seemed impossible for even his 
sagacity to prevail in such a desperate case; but the haart 
of the attorney was in his work, and he set about it with 
a will that knew no such word as fail. Feeling that the 
poisoned condition of the public mind was such as to pre- 
clude the possibility of impanneling an impartial jury in 
the court having jurisdiction, he procured a change of 
venue, and a postponement of the trial. He then went 
studiously to work unraveling the history of the case, and 
satisfied himself that his client w^as the victim of malice, 
and that the statements of the accuser were a tissue of 
falsehoods. When the trial was called on, the prisoner, 
pale and emaciated, with hopelessness written on every 
feature, and accompanied by his half-hoping, half-despair- 
ing mother — whose only hope was in a mother's belief 
of her son's innocence, in the justice of the God she wor- 
shiped, and in the noble counsel, who, without hope of fee 



42 THE LIFE OP 

or reward upon earth, had undertaking the cause — took 
his seat in the prisoner's box, and with a " stony firmness" 
listened to the reading of the indictment. 

Lincoln sat quietly by, while the large auditor r looked 
on him as though wondering what he could say in 
defense of one whose guilt they regarded as certain. The 
examination of the witnesses for the State was beirun, 
and a well-arranged mass of evidence, circumstantial and 
positive, Vv'as introduced, which seemed to impale the pris- 
oner beyond tht) possibility of extrication. The counsel 
for the defense pro^DOunded but few questions, and those 
of a character which excited no uneasiness on the part of 
the prosecutor — merel}^, in most cases, requiring the main 
•witness to be definite as to time and place. When the 
evidence of the proscecution was ended, Lincoln intro- 
duced a few witnesses to remove some erroneous impres- 
sions in regard to the previous character of his client, who. 
though somewhat rowdyish, had never been known to com- 
mit a vicious act ; and to show that a greater degree of ill- 
feeling existed between the accuser and accused, than the 
accused and the deceased. The prosecutor felt that the 
case was a clear one, and his opening s])eech was brief an I 
formal. Lincoln arose, while a deathl}^ silence pervaded 
the vast audience, and in a clear but moderate tone began 
his argument. Slowly and carefully he reviewed the tes- 
timony, pointing out the hitherto unobserved discrepan- 
cies in the statements of the principal witness. That 
which had seemed 2:»lain and plausible, he made to appear 
crooked as a serpent's path. The witness had stated that 
the affair took place at a certain hour in the evening, and 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 43 

that, by the aid of the brightly shining :■ oon. he saw the 
prisoner inflict the death-blow with a slung shot., Mr. 
Lincoln showed that, at the hour referred to, the moon had 
not yet appeared above the horizon, and consequently the 
whole tale was a fabrication. An almost instantaneous 
change seemed to have been wrought in the minds of his 
auditors, and the verdict of "not guilty" was at the end 
of every tongue. . But the advocate was not content with 
this intellectutir' achievement. His whole being had for 
months been bound up in this work of gratitude and 
mercy, and, as the lava of the overcharged crater bursts 
from its imprisonment, so great thoughts and burning 
words leaped forth from the soul of the eloquent Lincoln. 
He drew a picture of the perjurer, so horrid and ghastly, 
that the accuser could sit under it no longer, but reeled 
and staggered from the court-room, while the audience 
fancied they could see the brand apon his brow. Then, in 
words of thrilling pathos, Lincoln appealed to the jurors, 
as fathers of sons who might become fatherless, and as 
husbands of wives who might be widows, to yield to no 
previous impressions, no ill-founded prejudice, but to do 
his client justice ; and as he alluded to the debt of grati- 
tude which he owed the boy's sire, tears were seen to fall 
from many eyes unused to weep. It was near night when 
he concluded by saying, that if justice was done — as he 
believed it would be — before the sun should set, it would 
shine upon his client a freeman. The jury retired, and 
the court adjourned for the day. Half an hour had not 
elapsed, when, as the officers of the court and the volun- 
teer attorney sat at the tea-table of their hotel, a messen- 



44 THE LIFE OP 

ger announced that the jury had returned to their seats. 
All repaired immediately to the court-house, and while 
the prisoner was being brought from the jail, the court- 
room was filled to overflowing with citizens of the town. 
When the prisoner and his mother entered, silence reigned 
as completely as though the house were empty. The fore- 
man of the jury, in answer to the usual inquiry from the 
court, delivered the verdict '-Not guilty!" The widow 
dropped into the arms of her son, who lifted her up, and 
told her to look upon him as before, free and innocent. 
Then, with the words, " Where is Mr. Liocoln ?" he rushed 
across the room and grasped the hand of his deliverer, 
while his heart was too full for utterance. Lincoln turned 
his eyes toward the west, where the sun still lingered in 
view, and then, turning to the youth, said, '* It is not yet 
sundown, and you are free." I confess that my cheeks 
were not wholly unwet by tears, and I turned from the 
aifecting scene. As I cast a glance behind, 1 saw Abraham 
Lincoln obeying the divine injunction, by comforting the 
widow and the fatherless. 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 45 



CHAPTEE IV. 

THE STATESMAN. 

Mr Lincolri^a Marriage. Election to Congress, lli.t firsh Speech, in the 
House. Pertinent Extracts. War. Subjugation. Risht of Revolution. 
Indemnity. Peace. Conjiscotion. The Model President. i*(atfonns. 
One of Honest Abe's Jokes. The Scathing and Withering style. The great 
Democratic Qjc-gad. How much a rnan may Sub. Visit to New England. 
Retires to Private Life. The Kansas Bill rouses him. He takes the field 
again. Cawp/tignfor Fremont. The Principles of the Republican Party. 
Debates with Judge Douglass. The Campaign of 1858. Shooting over 
the line. 'The Kentucky Girls. The Speech to the Children in New York. 
Rumination to the. Presidency. What Douglass said of his color. The 
Campaign of I860. 

J^j^u the 4th of ^N^ovember J 842, Mr. Lincoln was married 
to Miss Mary Todd, daughter of Hon. Eobert S. Todd of 
Lexington, Kentucky. 

A man of family, a recognised leader in the ranks of the 
Whig part}^, a successful lawyer, and one whose popularity 
was daily increasiog, it is not a matter of wonder that in 
1848 Mr. Lincoln's felk>w citizens should have deemed 
him an appropriate man to represent them in the National 
Congress. 

Accordingly he was returned for the central district of 
Illinois in the Fall of 1846, and took his seatJii the Jiaufie 
of Eepresentatives at Washington, on the 6th dJy;,C)|J3>|J- 
cembeiTl847,'lHe opening of the thirtieth Congress. 

Mr. Lincoln was comparatively quite a young man wKel^ 
he entered the House, yet he was early recognised as one 
of the foremost of the Western men on the floor. His 
Congressional record, throughout, is that of a Whig of 
those days, his votes on all leading national subjects, beind 
invariably what those of Clay, Webster W Corwin would 



46 THE LIFE OP 

have been, had they occupied his place. One of the most 
prominent subjects of consideration before the Thirtieth 
Congress, very naturally, was the then existing war with 
Mexico. Mr. Lincol,n, wjis^ne of those who believed the 
Administration liad not properly managed its affairs with 
Mexico at the outset^ and who, while voting supplies and 
for suitably rewarding our gallant soldiers in that war, 
were unwilling to be forced, by any trick of the supporters 
of the Administration, into an unqualified indorsement of 
its course in this affair, from beginning to end." In this 
attitude, Mr. Lincoln did not stand alone. Such was the 
position of Whig members in both Houses, without ex- 
ception. 

On the 12th of January-, 1848, he made his speech in 
the House, from which we make the following extracts 
as being pertinent to the issues which at present divide 
the country : 

(J)i Commiitee of the Whole House, January 12, 1848.J 
Mr. Lincoln addressed the Committee as follows : 
Mr. Chairman; Some, if not all, of the gentlemen on 
the other side of the House, who have addressed the Com- 
mittee within the last two days, have spoken rather com- 
plainingly, if I have rightly understood them, of the vote 
given a week or ten days ago, declaring that the war with 
Mexico was unnecessarily and unconstitutionally com- 
menced by the President. I admit that such a vote should 
not be given in mere part}'' wantonness, and that the one 
given is justly censurable, if it have no other or better 
foundation. Iamoneoftho.se who joined in that vote; 
and did so under my best impression of the truth of the 
case. How I got this impression, and how it may possi- 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 47 

bl}^ be removed, I will now try to show. When the war 
began, it was my opinion that all those who, because of 
knowing too little^ or because of knowing too much, could 
not conscientiously approve the conduct of the President 
(in the beginning of it), should, nevertheless, as good citi- 
zens and patriots, remain silent on that point, at least till 
tlie war should be ended. Some leading democrats, inclu- 
ding ex-President Van Biiren, have taken this same view, 
as I understand them ; and I adhered to it, and acted upon 
it, until since I took my seat here; and I think I should 
still adhere to it, Avere it not that the President and his 
friends will not allow it to be so. Besides, the continual 
effort of the President to argue every silent vote given for 
supplies into an endorsement of the justice and wisdom 
of his conduct; besides that singularly candid paragraph 
in his late message, in which he tells us that Congress, 
with great unanimity (onl}^ two in the Senate and four- 
teen in the House dissenting) had declared that " by the 
act of the Eepublic of Mexico a state of war exists be- 
tween that Government and the United States;" when 
the same journals that informed him of this, also informed 
that, when that declaration stood disconnected from the 
question of supplies, sixty-seven in the House, and not 
fourteen, merely, voted against it; besides this open at- 
tempt to prove by telling the truth, what he cojld not 
prove by telling the whole truth, demanding of all who will 
not submit to be misrepresented, in justice to themselves, 
to speak out; besides all this, one of my colleagues [Mr. 
Eichardson], at a very early day in the session, brought 
n a set of resolutio ns expressly endorsing- the original ju s 



48 THE LIFE OP 

tice of the war on the part of the President. Upon these 
resolutions, when they shall be put on their passage, I 
shall be compelled to vote; so that I cannot be silent if I 
would. Seeing this, I went about preparing myself to 
give the vote understandingly, when it should come. I 
carefully examined the President's messages, to ascertain 
what he himself had said and proved upon the point. The 
result of this examination was to make the impression, 
that, taking for true all the President states as facts, he 
falls far short of proving his justification ; and the Presi- 
dent would have gone further with his proof, if it had not 
been for the small matter that the truth would not permit 
him. Under the impression thus made I gave the vote 
before mentioned. I propose now to give, concisely, the 
process of the examination I made, and how 1 reached 
the conclusion I did. 

Any people anywhere, being inclined and having the 
POWER, have a right to rise up and shake off the existing 
government, and form a new one that suits them better. 
This is a most valuable, a most sacred right — a right which, 
we hope and believe, is to liberate the world. Nor is this 
right confined to cases in which the whole people of an 
existing government may choose to exercise it. Any por- 
tion of such people that can may revolutionize, and make 
their own of so much of the territory as they inhabit. 
More than this, a majority of any portion of such people 
may revolutionize, putttng down a minority^ intermingled 
with, or near about them, who may oppose their move- 
ments. Such minority was precisely the case of the To- 
ries of our own Eevolution. It is a quality of revolutions 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 49 

not to go by old lines, or old laws ; but to break up both, 
and make new ones. As to the country now in question, 
we bought it of France in 1803, and sold it to Spain in 
1819, according to the President's statement. After this, 
all Mexico, including Texas, revolutionized against Spain ; 
and still later, Texas revolutionized against Mexico. In 
my view, just so far as she curried her revolution, by ob- 
taining the actual, willing or unwilling submission of the 
people, so far the country was hers, and no farther. 

Now, sir, for the purpose of obtaining the very best evi- 
dence as to whether Texas had actually carried her revo- 
lution to the place where the hostilities of the present war 
commenced, let the President answer the interrogatories 
I proposed as before mentioned, or some other similar 
ones. Let him answer fully, fairly and honestly. 

But if he cannot or will not do this — if, on any pretense 
he shall refuse or omit it — then I shall be fully convinced, 
of what I more than suspect already, that he is deeply 
conscious of being in the wrong; that he feels the blood 
of this war, like the blood of Abel, is crying to heaven 
against him; that he ordered General Taylor into the 
midst of a peaceful Mexican settlement, purposely to bring 
on war; that originally having some strong molive — what 
I will not stop now to give my opinion concerning — to in- 
volve the two countries in a war, and trusting to escape 
scrutiny by fixing the public gaze upon the exceeding 
brightness of militar^^ g'Ory — that attractive rainbow that 
rises in showers of blood — that serpent's eye that charms 
to destroy — he plunged into it, and has swept on and on, 
till, disappointed in his calculation of the ease with which 



50 ' THE LIFE OP 

Mexico inia:lit bo subdueJ, be iuav finds bimsclf be knows 
not wbcre. 

How can we obtain indemnity for tbe expenses of tbis 
war if tbose exjDenses amount to more tban tbe wbole val- 
ue of tbe Mexican territory ? Again, lialf tbe territory is 
already appropriated as private property ; bow tben are 
Avc to make anytbing out of tbeso lands with tbis incum- 
brance on tbem, or how remove tbe incumbrance ? I 
suppose no one will say we should kill tbe people, or drive 
tbem out, or make slaves of them, or even confiscate their 
property. * :k jk » h= * 

Again, it is a singular omission in this message, that it 
nowhere intimates lohen the President expects the war to 
terminate. At its beginning, General Scott was, by this 
same President, driven into disfavor, if not disgrace, for 
intimating that peace could not be conquered in less than 
three or four months. But now at the end of about twen- 
ty months, during which time our arms have given us the 
most splendid successes — every department, and every 
part, land and water, officers and privates, regulars and 
v lunteers, doing all that men could do, and hundreds of 
things which it had ever before been tbon2:lit that men 
could not do ; after all tbis, this .^^amc President gives us a 
long message without showinj; us that, as to the end, be has 
himself even an imaginarj- conception. As I have before 
said, be knows not where he is. He is a bewildered, con- 
founded, and miseraljly-perplexed man. God grant he 
may be able to show that there is not something about 
bis conscience more painful than all his mental perplexity. 

On the 20th of June, 1848, be said : I wish now to sub- 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 51 

mit a few remarks on tlie general proposition of amending 
llie Constitution. As a general rule, 1 think we would do 
much better to let it alone. No slight occasion should 
tempt us to touch it. Better not take tiie first step, which 
may lead to a habit of altering it. Better rather habituate 
ourselves to think of it as unalterable. It can scarcely 
be made better than it is. New provisions would intro- 
duce new difficulties, and thus create and increase appetite 
for further change. No, sir ; let it stand as it is. 'New 
hands have never touched it. The men who made it have 
doue their work, and have passed away. Who shall im- 
prove on what they did ? 

The first session of the Tliirtieth Congress was prolonged 
far beyond the date of the Presidential nominations of 
1848. and the canvas was actively carried on by members 
on the floor of the house. Mr. Lincoln warmly sustained 
the nomination of Gen. Taylor, and before the adjourn- 
ment of Congress, he made, in accordance with precedent 
and general practice, one of his characteristic c impaign 
speeches. lie showed himself a man of decided partisan 
feelings, and entered into this contest with zeal, not only 
repelling the violent attacks upon the Whig candidate, but 
showing that there were blows to be given as well as 
taken. He said some things in a vein of sarcastic humor 
which could only have been mistaken for actual bitterness, 
by those who did not know the really genial character of 
the man. Argument, ridicule and illustrative anecdotes 
were brought into requisition, with great ability and un- 
sparing boldness, iu setting the real issues of the canvas 



$ 



52 THE LIFE OP 

political and personal, in what he deemed a proper light 
before the people. 

We quote the following characteristic and interesting 
extracts from this speecli : 

WHAT A PRESIDENT SHOULD BE. 

My friend from Indiana has aptly asked, " Are j^ou 
willing to trust the people?" Some of you answered, 
substantially, "We are willing to trust the people; but 
the President is as much the representative of the people 
as Congress." In a certain sense, and to a certain degree, 
he is the representative of the people. He is elected by 
them, as well as Congress is. But can he, in the nature 
of things, know the wants of the people as well as three 
hundred other men coming from all the various localities 
of the nation ? If so, where is the propriety of having a 
Congress ? That the Constitution gives the Preside t a 
negative on legislation, all know; but that this negative 
should be so combined with platforms and other appliances 
as to enable him, and, in fact, almost compel him, to take 
the whole legislation into his own hands, is what we object 
to — is what Taylor objects to — and is what constitutes the 
broad distinction between you and us. To thus transfer 
legislation is clearly to take it irom those who understand 
with minuteness the interest of the people, and give it to 
one who does not and can not so well understand it. 

PLATFORMS. 

One word more, and I shall have done with this branch 
of the subject. You Democrats, and your candidate, in 
the main, are in favor of laying down, in advance, a plat- 
form — a set of party positions, as a unit; and then of 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 53 

enforcing the peo])le, by eveiy sort of appliance, to ratify 
them, however unpalatable some of them may be. We, 
and our candidate, are in favor of making Presidential 
elections and the legislation of the country distinct 
matters ; so that the people can elect whom they please, 
and afterward legislate just as they please, without any 
hindrance, save only so^ much as may guard against in- 
fractions of the Constitution, undue haste, and want of 
consideration. The difference between us is clear as noon- 
day. That we are right we can not doubt. We hold the 
true Eepublican position. In leaving the j^eople's business 
in their hands, we can not be wrong. We are willing, and 
even anxious, to go to the people on this issue. 

ONE OF HONEST ABE's JOKES. 

The other day, one of the gentlemen from Georgia (Mr. 
iverson), an eloquent man, and a man of learning, so far 
as I can judge, not being learned myself, came down upon 
us astonishingly. He spoke in what the Baltimore Amer- 
ican calls the " scathing and withering style." At the 
end of his second severe flash I was struck blind, and 
found myself feeling with my fingers for an assurance of 
my continued physical existence. A little of the bone was 
left, and I gradually revived. The gentleman gave us a 
second speech yesterday, all well considered and put down 
in writing, in which Yan Buren was scathed and withered 
a " few ' for his present position and movements. I can 
not remember the gentleman's precise language, but I do 
remember he put Yan Buren down, down, till he got him 
■where he has finally to " stink" and " rot." 



54 THE LIFE OP 

A TRACTABLE PRESIDENT. 

In 1846 Cass was for the Wilraot Proviso, at once ; in 
March, 1847 be wag still for it, hut not just then ; in De- 
cember, 1847, be was agaiDst it altogether. This is a true 
index to the whole man. "When the question was raised 
in 1846, he was in a blustering hurry to take ground for 
it. He sought to be in the advance, not as a mere fol- 
lower; but soon he began to see glimpses of the great 
Democratic ox-gad waving in his face, and to hear indis- 
tinctly a voice saying, "back, back, sir, back a little." He 
shakes his head and bats his eyes, and blunders back to 
his position of March, 1847 ; but still the gad waves, and 
the voice grows more distinct, and sharper siill — •• back, 
sir ! back, I say ! further back ! " and back he goes to the 
position of December, 1847 ; at which the gad is still, and 
the voice soothingly says — " So ! Stand still at that." 

WONDERFUL PHYSICAL CAPACITIES. 

But I have introduced G-en. Cass's accounts here chiefly 
to show the wonderful physical capacities of the man. 
They show that he not only did the labor of several men 
at the same time, but that he often dit it at several places, 
many hundred miles apart, at the same time. And at eat- 
ing, too, his capacities are shown to be quite as wonderful. 
From October, 1821,, to May, 1822, he ate ten rations a 
day in Michigan, ten rations a day here, in Washington, 
and near five dollar's worth a day besides, partly on the 
road between the two places. And then there is an im- 
portant discovery in his example — the art of being paid 
for what one eats, instead of having to pay for it. Here- 
after, if any nice young man shall owe a bill which he can 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 55 

not pay in any other way, ho can just board it out. Mr. 
Speaker, we have all heard of the animal standing in 
doubt between two stacks of hay, and starving to death j 
the like of which would never happen to Gen. Cass. Place 
stacks a thousand miles apart, he would stand stock still, 
midway between them, and eat them both at once ; and 
the green grass along the line would be apt to suffer some 
too, at the same time. By all means, make hjm Presi- 
dent, gentlemen. He will feed you bounteously^ — if — if 
there is any left after he shall have helped himself. 

This speech exhibits the man in all the phrases of hia 
character — acute, discerning, good humored, sarcastic, s'n. 
ceer and industrious. 

Alter the session closed, Mr. Lincoln made a visit to 
ISTew England, where he delivered some effective campaign 
speeches, which were enthusiastically received by his largo 
audience, as appears from the reports in the journals of 
those days, and as will be remembered by thousands. His 
time, however, was chiefly givori, during the Congressional 
recess, to the canvass in the "West, where, through the per- 
sonal strength of Mr. Cass as a North-western man, the 
contest was more severe and exciting than in any other 
part oY the countr}^. The final triumph of Gen. Taylor, 
over all the odds against him, did much to counterbalance, 
in Mr. Lincoln's mind, the dishearting defeat of four years 
previous. He had declined to be a candidate for re-elec- 
tion to Congress, yet he had the satisfaction of aiding to 
secure, in his own district, a majority of 1,500 for the 
"Whig Presidential candidates. 

Mr. Lincoln again took his seat in the House in Decem- 



56 THE LIFE OP 

ber, on the reascmbling of the thirtieth Congress for its 
second session. 

With the termination of the Thirtieth Congress, by 
Constitutional limitation, on the 4th of March, 1849, Mr. 
Lin, oln's career as a Congressman came to a close. Ho 
had refused to be a candedate for re-election in a district 
that had given him over 1,500 majority in 1846, and nearly 
the same to Gen. Taylor, as the Whig candidate for the 
Presidency 'n 1848. It does not appear that he desired or 
would have accepted any place at Washington, among the 
many at the disposal of the incoming Administration, in 
whose behalf he had so zealously labored. (He retired once 
more to private life, renewing the professional practice 
which had been temporarily interrupted by his public 
emj^lovmcnt. The duties of his responsible position had 
been discliarged with assiduity and with fearless adherence 
to his convictions of right, under whatever circumstances. 
Scarcely a list of yeas and nays can be found, for either 
session, which does not coittain his name. He was never 
conveniently absent on any critical vote. He never 
shrank from any responsibility which his sense of justice 
impelled him to take. His record, comparatively brief as 
it is, is no doubtful one, and will bear the closest scrutiny. 
And though one of the youngest and most inexperienced 
members of an uncommonly able and brilliant Congress, 
hcowould long have been remembered, without the mere 
recent events which have naturally followed upon his pre- 
vious career, as standing among the first in rank of the 
distinguished statesmen of the Thirtieth Congress. 

Eeturning to Springfield where he successfully con tin- 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 57 

lied his law practice, Mr. Lincoln did not take any part in 
public affairs until the introduction of the Kansas-Nebras- 
ka bill, in 1848. Eoused to a sense of the danger which 
menaced the country, he at once took the field, and spoke 
against Douglas all over the State, with tremendous effect. 

In 1856, he took active part m the formation of the Re- 
publican party, and sustained the nomination of Fremont 
and Dayton against Buchanan. 

The main, the wild principles of the party are exhibited 
in the following resolution of 1854 : 
W" Besolved, That the doctrine affirmed by the JSTebraska 
Bill, and gilded over by its advocat s with the specious 
phrases of non-interventi:n and popular sovereignty, is 
really and clearly a complete surrender of all the ground 
hitherto asserted and maiiitained by the Federal Govern- 
menr, with respect to the limitation of slavery, is a plain 
confession of the right of the slaveholder to transfer his 
human chattels to any part of the public domain, and 
there hold them as slaves as long as inclination or interest 
may dictate; and that this is an attempt totally to reverse 
the doctrine hitherto uniformly held by statesmen and 
jurists, that slavery is the creature of local and State law, 
and tvo make it a national institution. 

Resolved^ That as freedom is national and slavery sec- 
tional and local, the absence of all law upon the subject 
of slavery presumes the existence of a state of freedom 
alone, while slavery exists only by virtue of positive law. 

And by the following preamble and principal resolution 
of 1856 : 

Whereas, The present Administration has prostituted 



58 THE LIFE OF 

its powers, and devoted all its energies to the propagation 
of slavery, and to its extension into Territories heretofore 
dedicated to freedom, against the known wishes of the 
people of such Territories, to the suppression of the free- 
dom of speech, and of the press; and to the revival of 
the odious doctrine of constructive treason, which has al- 
ways been the resort of t^a-ants, and their most powerful 
engine of injustice and oppression ; and^ lohereas, we are 
convinced that an effort is making to subvert the princi- 
ples, and ultimately to change the form of our Govern- 
ment, and which it becomes all ] atriots, all wlio love their 
country, and the cause of human freedom, to resist; there- 
fore, 

Hesolved, That we ])old,in accordance with the opinions 
and practices of all the great statesmen of all parties, for 
the first sixty years of the administration of the Govern- 
ment, that, under the Constitution, Congress possesses 
full power to prohibit slavery in the Territories ; and that 
while we will maintain all Constitutional rights of the 
South, we also hold that justice, humanity, the principles 
of freedom as expressed in our declaration of Indepen- 
dence, and our National Constitution, and the purity and 
perpetuity of our Government re.ouire that that power 
should be everted, to prevent the extension of slavery into 
Territories heretofore free. 

Upon the accession of Mr. Buchanan to the presiden- 
tial chair, the affairs of Kansas continued to be hotly dis- 
cussed b}^ both parties. Judge Douglas has again and 
again been confronted by Mr. Lincoln, who, while taking 
pains to show that he was neither an ama'gamationist or 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 59 

an einancipsitionistjhe he.'i'tily aDdhonestly opposed that of 
the extension of slavery into the territories, but even the 
idea that slavery existed by any other right than the 
absence of express law to put it down. We quote : 

^'Tliere is a natural disgust, in the minds of nearly all 
white people, to the idea of an indiscriminate amalgamation 
of the white and black races 3 and Judge Douglas evidently 
is basing his chief hope upon the chances of his being able 
to appropriate the benefit of this disgust to himself If 
he can, by much drumming and repeating, fasten the 
odium of that idea upoi: his adversaries, he thinks he can 
struggle through the storm. He, therefore, clings to this 
hope, as a drowning man to the last plank. He makes an 
occasion for lugging it in from the opposition to the Dred 
Scott decision. He finds the Kcpublicans insisting that 
the Declaration of Independence includes all men, black 
as well as white^ and forthwith he boldly denies that it 
includes negroes all, and j^roceeds to argue gravely that 
all who counted it does, do so only because they want to 
vote, eat and sleep, and marry with negroes ! He will 
have it that they cannot be consistent else. Now, I pro- 
test against the counterfeit logic which concludes that, 
because I do not want a black woman for a slave I must 
necessarily ^ant her for a wife. I need not have her for 
either. I can just leave her alone. In some resj^ects she 
certainly is not my equal ; but in her natural right to eat 
the bread she earns with her own hands, without asking 
leave of any one else, she is my equal, and the equal of 
all others." 

The campaign of 1858 was next ushered in. The Ee- 



60 THE LIFE OF 

publican party nominated Mr. Lincoln for IT. S. Senator 
in the place of Judge Douglas, whose term expired. It 
was in the first speech which Mr. Lincoln made in this 
memorable canvass that he used the immortal expression : 
" I believe this government can not endure, permanentl}^ 
half slave and half free.'' 

Judge Douglas answered in a spirited manner. He com- 
menced : '' I take great pleasure in saying that I have 
known, personally and intimatel}^, for about a quarter of 
a century, the worthy gentleman who has been nominated 
for my p'ace ; and I will say that I regard him as a kind, 
amiable and intelligent gentleman, a good citiz n, and an 
honorable opponent; and whatever issue I may have with 
him v/ill be .of principle^, and not involving personalities," 
and then went on : |" Mr. Lincoln advocates boldly and 
clearly a war of sectionS^a war of the Korth against the 
South, of the free States against the slave States— a war 
of extermination— to be continued relentlessly until the 
one or the other should be subdued, and all the States 
shall either become free or become slave. '\ 

But Mr. Lincoln triumphantly repliea: " I did not say 

that I was in favor of sectional war. I only said what I 

expected would take place.^ I made a prediction only — it 

may have been a foolish one perhaps.^'l did not even say 

I that 1 desired that slavery should be put in course of 

I ultimate extinction. I do say so now, however, so there 

I need be no longer any difficulty about that.| It may be 

* written down in the next speech." 

"I am not, in the first ]jlace^ unaware that this Govern- 
ment has endured eighty -two years, half slave and half 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 61 

free. I know that. I am tolerably well acquainted with 
the history of the country, and I know that it has en- 
dured eighty-two years, half slave and half free. I believe 
— and that is what I meant to allude to there — I believe it 
has endured, because during all that time, until the intro- 
duction of the Nebraska bill, the public mind did rest all 
the time in the belief that slavery was in course of ulti- 
mate extinction. That was what crave us the rest that 
we had through that period of eighty-two years; at least, 
so I believe. I have always hated slavery, I think, as 
much as an}^ Abolitionist. I have been an Old Line Whig, 
I have alwyas hated it, but I have always boen quiet about 
it until this new era of the introduction of the iJ^ebraska 
Bill began." 

Although Mr. Lincoln was not returned, yet the popu- 
lar vote for senator was over four thousand majority 
his favor. 

Admiration of the manly bearing and gallant conduct of 
Mr. Lincoln, throughout this campaign, which had early 
assumed a national importance, led to the spontaneous 
suggestion of his name, in various parts of the country, 
as a candidate for the Presidency., From the beginning 
to the end of tlie contest, he -had proved himself an 
able statesman, an effective orator, a true gentleman, 
and an honest man. While, therefore, Douglas was 
returned to the Senate^here was a general presentiment 
that a juster verdict was yet to be had, and that Mr. 
Lincoln and his cause would JDC ultimately vindicated be- 
fore the people. That time was to come, even sooner, 
perhaps, than his friends, in their momentary desponden- 



62 THE LIFE OP 

cy, bad expected. From that hour to the present, the 
fame of Abrahtrtii Lincoln has been enlarging and ripen- 
ing, and the love of his noble character has become more 
and more deeply fixed in the popular heart. 

During the following year be again gave himself up to 
bis profession ; but in the fall, when Douglas visited Ohio, 
and endeavored to sway the Democracy of that State in 
favor of the re-election of Mr. Pugh, Lincoln again took 
the political field in opposition to him. 

At Cincinnati on the 17th of September be said; allud- 
ing to Douglas's perversions of his views, and to tbe^ 
charge of washing to disturb slavery- in the States by 
"shooting over" the line, Mr. Lincoln said : 

SHOOTING OVER THE LINE. 

It has occured to me here to-night, that if I ever do 
shoot over at the people on the other side of the line in a 
slave State, and purpose to do so, keeping my skin safe, 
that I have now about the best chance I shall ever have. 
[Laughter and applause.] I should not wonder if there 
are some Kentuckians about this audience j we are close 
to Kentucky ; and whether that be so or not, we are on 
elevated ground, and by speaking distinctly, I should not 
wonder if some of the Kentuckians should hear me on the 
other side of the river. [Laughter.] For that reason I 
propose to address a portion of what I have to say to the 
Kentuckians. 

I say, then, in the first place, to the Kentuckians, that I 
am what the}^ call, as I understand it, a "Black Eupubli- 
can." (Applause and Laughter.) I think that slavery is 
wrong, morally, socially and politically. I desire that it 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 63 

should be no further spread in these United States, and I 
should not object if it should gradiiall}' terminate in the 
whole Union. (ApjDlause,) While I say this for myself, 
I say to 3'ou, Kentuckians, that I understand that you 
differ radically with me upon this 2:)roposition ; that you 
believe slavery is a good thing; that slavery is right; that 
it ought to be extended and perpetuated in this Union. 
Now, there being this broad difference between us, I do 
not pretend in addressing myself to you, Kentuckians, to 
attempt proselyting you at all ; that would be a vain effort. 
I do not enter upon it. I only propose to try to show you 
that 3^ou ought to nominate for the nexc Presidency, at 
Charleston, my distinguished friend. Judge Douglas 
(Applause.) 

WHAT THE OPPOSITION MEAN TO DO. 

I will tell you, so far as I am authorized to speak for 
the Opposition, what we mean to do with you. We mean 
to treat you, as nearly as we possibly can, as Washington, 
Jefferson, and Madison treated you. (Cheers.) We mean 
to leave you alone, and in no way to interfere with your 
institutions; to abide by all and every compromise of the 
Constitution; and, in a word, coming back to the original 
proposition, to treat 3"0u, so far as degenerated men (if we 
have degenerated) ma}', imitating the examples of those 
noble fathers — Washington, Jefferson, and Madison. We 
mean to remember that you are as good as we ; that 
there is no difference between us other than the difference 
of circumstances. We mean to recognise and bear in 
mind always that you have as good hearts in your bosom 
as other people, or as wo claim to have, and treat you 



64 THE LIFE OP 

accordingly. We mean to many your girls when., wo 
have a chance — the white ones I mean (Laughter) and I 
have the honor to inform you that I once got a chance 
that way myself ( A voice, "good for you," and Applause.) 

In the s]3ring of 1860, Mr. Lincoln yielded to the calls 
which came to him irom the East for his presence and aid 
in the exciting political canvasses there going on. He 
spoke at various places in Connecticut, New Hampshire, 
and Ehode Island, and also in New York city, to very 
arge audiences, and was everywhere warmly welcomed. 
Perhaps one of the greatest speeches of his life, was that 
delivered hy him at the Cooper Institute, in New York, on 
the 27th of Februarj-, 1860. A crowded audience was 
present, which received Mr. Lincoln with enthusiastic 
demonstrations. William C alien Bryant presided, and 
introduced the speaker in terms of high compliment to the 
West, and to the " eminent citizen" of that section, whose 
political labors in 1856 and '58 were appropriately 
eulogised. 

This is the last of the great speeches of Mr. Lincoln in 
this never to be forgotten canvas. It forms a brilliant 
close to this period of his life, and a fitting prelude to that 
on which he has next to enter. 

It was durino; this visit to New York that the folio wins: 
incident occurred, as related by a teacher in the Five- 
Points House of Industry, in that cit}^ : 

Our Sundaj'-school in the Five Points was assembled, 
one Sabbath morning, a few months since, when I noticed 
a tall, and remarkable-looking man enter the room and 
take a seat amonij: us. He listened with fixed attention to 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 65 

our exercises, and his countenance manifested sach gen- 
nine interest, that I approaclicd him and suggested that 
he might be willing to say something to the children. He 
accepted the invitation with evident pleasure, and coming 
forward began a simple address, which at once facinated 
every litth> hearer, and hushed the room into silence. His 
language was strikingly beautiful, and his tones musical 
with intense feeling. The little faces around would 
droop into sad conviction as he uttered sentences of 
warning, and would brighten into sunshine as he spoke 
cheerful words of promise. Once or twice he attempted 
to close his remarks, but the imperative shout of " Go on !'' 
'' Oh, do go on ! " would compel him to resume. As I 
looked upon the gaunt and sinewy frame of the stranger, 
and marked his powerful head and determined features, 
now touched into softness by the impressions of the mo- 
ment, 1 felt an irrepressible curiosity to learn something 
more about him, and when he was quietly leaving the room, 
begged to know his name. He courteously replied, " It is 
Abra'm Lincoln, from Illinois !" 

Upon the assembling of the Republican National Con- 
vention at Chicago. May 1(3, 18G0, it soon became apparent 
that the contest was to bo narrowed down to two names — 
those of Wm. H. Seward of New York, and Abraham 
Lincoln of Illinois. On the first ballot Seward received 
173, and Lincoln 102 ; on the second Seward received 184, 
and Lincoln 181; on the third Lincoln received 231, and 
Seward 180, Messrs. Chase, Cameron, Bates, D-ayton, and 
McLean receiving the balance, to make up the whole 



66 THE LIFE OP 

nnmber, or 464. This secured Mr. Lincoln the nomina- 
tion. """"-' " ■'""*- 

The scene which followed — the wild manifestations of 
approval and delight, within and witliout the hall, pro- 
longed nninterruptedly for twenty minutes, and renewed 
again and again for half an hour longer — no words can 
describe. Never before was there a popular assembly of 
any sort, probably, so stirred with a contagious and all- 
pervading enthusiasm. The nomination was made unani- 
mous, on motion of Mr, Everts, of New Yoids:, who had 
presented the name of Mr. Seward, and speedily, on the 
wings of lightning, the news of the great event was spread 
to all parts of the land. Subsequently, with like heartiness 
and unanimity the ticket was completed by the nomina- 
tion, on the second ballot, of Senator Hannibal Hamlin, of 
Maine, for Vice-President. 

On the 23d, Mr. Lincoln addressed the following letter 
of acceptance to the Convention : 

Springfield, III., May 23, 1860. 
Hon. Geo. Ashmun, 

PrcsidQut of the Eepublican National Convention : 

Sir:4-I accept the nomination tendered me by the con- 
vention ""over which you presided, and of which I am for- 
mally apprised in the letter cf yourself and others, acting 
as a committee of the convention for that purpose. 

The declaration of principles and sentiments which ac- 
companies your letter meets my approval; and it shall be 
my care not to violate, nor disregard it, in any part. 

Imploring the assistance of Divine Providence, and with 
due regard to the views and feelings of all who were rep- 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 67 

resented in the convention ; to the rights of all the States, 
and Territories, and the people of the nation ; to the invi- 
olability of the Constitution, and to the perpetual union, 
harmon}^ and prosperity of all, I am most happy to co- 
operate for the practical success of the principles declared 
by the convention. 

Your obliged friend and fellow-citizen, 

Abraham Lincoln^ 
We have thus followed this great statesman, this kind- 
hearted, genial man, this uncouth but warm-hearted Wes- 
tern pioneer, from his obscure home in the wilderness to 
his nomination to the highest office in the gift of the na- 
tion. We have now to speak of him after four years of 
varied experience in this office. We shall endeavor to do 
so without fear or favor. 



CHAPTER Y. 
The President. 

The hour. Mr. TAncoqn's relnciance to begin hoslililies. The temper 
of the people and of Congress. The battle of Bull Ruu. Preperations 
for a portable struggle. War meacsures. Mr. Lincolri not responsible 
for them. The slavery question. Mr. Lindolri's comprmi.e. Emancipa- 
tion bill. The Emancipation Pupclamation- Personal appearance and 
habits of the President. Finalcial measures. Determanation to restore 
the Union. The Confederate election. The end. 

In reviewing the career of President Lincoln during 
his past four years of office we must not only bear in 
mind what lets our previous opinions were, but as for 



68 THE LIFE OP 

public opinion and the acts of Congress have attended to 
influence its conduct. 

Taking all these into proper consideration we have fre- 
quent occasions as we go along to admire the profound 
patriotism and practical wisdom and common sense which 
has distinguished his Presidential term. 

First of all, was it or was it not wise in Mr. Lincoln to 
call for 75,000 troops on the I5th of April, 1861, and by 
this act accept the gage of battle which the bombardment 
of Fort S|;Lmtcr had thereon drawn. It would scarcely be 
worth while to assume this question which the nation 
itself has answered so often, were there not left multitudes 
of our fellow citizens wdio still believe that Mr. Lincoln 
inaugerated this war, notwithstanding the most direct 
proofs to the contrary. 

Kow wherein was Mr. Lincoln to blame ? He was 
duly elected President of the United States and took his 
oath of office at a junction where the stoutest mind 
might fairly have quailed from the task before it. 

The Southern Statcj^ seeing in his election the triumph 
of a party whose principles were objectionable to them, 
and forgetting that the limited power of a pres dent must 
ever restrict him in time of peace from doing them any 
harm, had resolved to strike for their independence. Mr. 
Lincoln's duty w^as plain. The right of revolution he here 
denied, Avtien he said in his speech of January 12, 1858, 
quoted on a previous page, " Any people may, when 
having the poioei\ hiXYO the right." lie had either to as- 
sume all the responsibilities of admitting the doctrine of 
peaceful secession, or open the door to a civil war that 



ABRAHAM \ INCOLN. 69 

might not only last for miiny years, but lead in the end to 
military a'^oendency and the loss of oar own liberties at 
home. It Avas a moment of eventful hesitation. During 
this period the news came of Sumter's fall, and the entire 
l!^orth was raised to a pitch of intense excitement The 
people were lashed into fury, and men asked each other 
impatiently if Mr. Lincoln intended to submit to this thing 
any longer. It was with extreme reluctance that Honest 
Abe at last gave the signal. It was only when all other 
argume ts had failed that the last of all arguments was 
employed, the argument of brute force, of war, war npon 
our brethren, maddened into fury by their own groundless 
apprehensions. 

f Mr. Lincoln felt as we all did at the time, that the war 

\ 
was a mere bagatelle, and would soon be over. The 75,000 

troops were expected to awe the South into an attitude of 
reason, even without striking a blow^. They were only 
called out for three months. ExclTe'cT meetings held all 
over the jSTorth in support of the government, and denun- 
ciation of suspe.ted secessionists, gave the most posit" ve 
proof that the people were for strong measures. Had Mr. 
Lincoln acted in contradiction to this state of feelino-, he 
would have been false to his office and his oath. It was 
not until the 4th of May that three years volunteers were 
called for. Meanwhile, the popular demonstrations for 
coercion were too unmistaken. Flags were raised, news- 
papers compelled to change their tone, public speakers 
called to order, and everj-thing made to run in Union 
channels. On the 4th of July an extra sesssion of Cod- 
gress was called, when the President recommended the 



70 THE LIFE OP 

raising of 400,000 mcrl, and 8400,000,000. The battles of 
Phillipi and Big Betlicl had been fought ; the war was in- 
evitable. If Mr. Lincon had been the rankest of secession- 
ists the war would have gone on just the same. The tem- 
per of Congress demonstrated this. Had he even chosen 
to veto the war measures it passed, they would have been 
passed again over his head. How then can the charge 
of incitinic this w^ar be held against Mr. Lincoln ? The 
thing is untenable. 

The events of the fortnight succeeding the meeting of 
Congress must be still fresh in every American mind. On 
the 21st of July the battle of Ball Run was fought. Here 
comes a pause in history. Both parties at once became 
aware that the struggle was to be one of life and death. 
It was to be no armed mob on one side, and a shci^iff's 
posse comitatus on the other. Well-trained armies were to 
meet each other in strategic fields, and battle perhaps for 
many a year for union or dissolution. Still the majority 
of the people and with them the President and his cabinet 
believed that a few months preparation would fit our ar- 
mies for the work of quick triumph. If Mr. Lincoln be- 
lieved otherwise, if he foresaw that years might pass away 
before peace was restored, if he caught but a single 
glimpse of the " many possible phases into which civil war 
might grow," if he remembered that while we were mak- 
ing preparation the enemy was doing the same, he was 
guilty of a great wrong in not- making the people better 
informed. Then, if they saw fit, they could either have 
gone on as they have done, or relinquished the L^nion at 
the start, and had done with it. But we have no reason 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 71 

to suppose that Mr. Lincoln saw farther than others did in 
these matters. Indeed, it was impossible to foresee, for 
both the temper of the South and its resources for war 
were hidden from us. And the temper of the North was 
to . unequivocal to permit us to believe she Avould ever 
have consented to any other course than the one sh.e 
adopted. 

Says Mr. Alex. Delmar, the biographer of General 
McClellan : " Before the breaking out of the war, there 
were, in the first wild days of national excitement, but 
two parties- — those for and those against the South — or, 
Secessionists and Unionists. No one stopped to think of 
the many possible phases into which civil war might grow. 
It was exj^ected that it would end in a few days with an 
inevitable re-establishment of the national authority, and 
that consequently, any man who had proved so treacher- 
ous as to raise his voice in favor of the enemy, would ever 
afterward be pointed at as a traiior. So there were only 
two sides to the question — Union or Secession." * 

This furnishes the key to the first part of Mr. Lincoln's 
administration. He had either to be for or ao-ainst the 
South, either for Union or Secession. At this period the 
questions of expatiation, confiscation, amnesty, disposal 
of fugitive slaves, conscription, suppression of spoken and 
printed discontent at home, emancipation, national debt, 
occupation of conquered territory, &c., &c., had not been 
touched upon. But during that time, wdien the army of 
the Potomac under Mc Clellan was being organized for an 
earnest contest, these matters began to loom forth from 
amidiSt the terrible confusion of interests and revulsion of 

* Lif« of Geo B. Mc CleUan, PubliBhed by T. K, DAWLEY, N. Y. 



72 THE LIFE OP 

ideas, which are always occasioned by civil war. The 
Democratic Standard, of Concord, New Hampshire, was 
suppressed by soldiers and its office destroyed, the War 
Bulletin, and Missourian of St. Louis, suppressed by Gen. 
Fremont, the writ of Habeas Corpus served on Col. Burke 
at Fort Lafayette was refused to be obeyed, and the sum 
of $15,000 levied upon the people of St Joseph, Mis., by 
Gen. Pope. The Jeffersonian, at Westchester, Pa., was 
cleaned out, the JVew York War Path, Daily News, Journal 
of Commerce, and Day Book refused the privilege of the 
mails, the Philadelphia Christian Observer office closed by 
the U. S. marshall, contrabands harbored at Fortress Mon- 
roe, secession meetings broken ujd at Stralenburg, N. J., and 
other points, martial law proclaimed all over Missouri, and 
Democratic, or Eecognition newspapers indicted by grand 
juries. Oaths of allegiance were introduced, that ad- 
ministered to Eoss Winans, of Baltimore, in September 
18G1, being an instance ; $33,000 in the St. Louis Savings 
Association were confiscated as being the property of the 
Cherokees who had joined the Confederates, amnesty 
offered by Gen. Wilson in Kentucky, contrabands supplied 
with food raiment and money by Gen. Wool, the writ of 
Habeas Corpus suspended by the President, military parolqs 
and exchanges inaugerated, John C. Breckenridge indicted 
for treason, exportation of war materials prohibited, and 
a variety of other measures, none of which were dreamed 
of six months ago, were put in force. This state of affairs 
did not last long. New political ideas were broached 
every day ; new phases of national existence disclosed 
themselves J new measures became necessary. Was it 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 73 

strange that Mr, Lincoln should have differed a little from 
tlie opinions he had previously applied to a state of peace 
and inaction, or to a state of one just ushered in, and 
bidding fair to end almost immediately. 

The fall campaigns of 1881, and the spring campaign of 
18G2, next followed. During the former, we gained 
Iloanoke Island and the sea board'of North Carolina, occu- 
pied Norfolk, captured the Forts on the Tennessee and 
upper Mississippi, and gained various successes at other 
points. During the latter. New Orleans was captu"red and 
the celebrated Peninsular campaign inaugurated. This 
campaign at once demonstrated the great power of our 
enemies to carry on war — a power which before was se- 
riously questioned. 

It was now seen to be impossible to carry on the war, 
and at the same time have that strict regard for the nor- 
mal rio-hts of those who stood with arms in Ibeir hands to 

o 

defy us,' which had been promised Avhen the war seemed 
to be but a transient aifair. Confiscation of rebel property 
was deemed a matter of necessity, both as a just retalia- 
tion for the rebel confiscation of Northern debts and 
propert}', and as a war measure to weaken the resources 
of the enemy. 

The imprisonment of active secessionists was another 
measure of necessity. To leave these persons to openly 
preach and practice doctrines against which the majority 
had declared and were fighting, was impossible. Even 
in executing it, much forbearance was exhibited. To every 
one imprisioued there were hundreds who escaped. Some 
mistakes were made of course, but these could not be 



74 THE LIFE OP 

helped, however much they were to be regretted. Once 
admit that the war was unavoidable, and we cannot well 
see how the contrary can be established, all the rest fol- 
lowed as the natural result of war. 

On the 1st of December. 18G2, the President, confident 
that without slavery the rebellion could never have ex- 
isted ; without slavery it could not continue, had embodied 
in his annual message to Congress a proposition of grad- 
ual emancipation. This proposition, which ^^I'oved t: at 
he was still opposed to violent measures on this subject, 
was couched in the following terms : 

^Eesolved hy the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled, (two thirds 
of both Houses concurring) that the following articles be 
purposed to the Legislatures (or conventions) of the seve- 
ral States, as amendments to the Constitution of the 
United States, all or any of which articles when ratified 
by three fourths of the said Legislatures (or conventions) 
to be valid as part or parts of the said Constitution, 
namely : 

"Article. — Every State wherein slavery now exists, which 
shall abolish the same therein, at any time, or times, be- 
fore the first day of January, in the year of our Lord one 
thousand nine hundred, shall receive compensation from 
the United States, to wit : 

" The President cJf the United States shall deliver to 
every such State bonds of the United States, bearing in- 
terest at the rate of- — per cent, per annum, to an amount 

equal to the aggregate s:im of for each slave shown 

to have been therein, by the eighth census of the United 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 75 

States, said bonds to be delivered to such States by in- 
stallments, or in one parcel at tlie completion of the abol- 
ishment, accordingly as the same shall have been gradual, 
or at one time, within such State ; and interest shall begin 
to run upon any such bond only from the proper time of 
its delivery aforesaid. Any State having received bonds 
as aforesaid, and afterwards rt -introducing or tolerating 
slavery therein, shall refund to the United States the 
bonds so received or the value Uiereof, and all interest 
paid thereon. 

"Article. — All slaves who shall have enjoyed actual free- 
dom by the chances of the war at any time before the 
end of the rebellion, shall be forever free ; but all owners 
of such, who shall not have been disloyal, shall be com- 
pensated for them, at the same rates as is provided for 
States adopting abolishment of slavery, but in such way 
that no slave shall be twice accounted foi-. 

"AiiTicLE. — Congress may appropriate money and other- 
w^ise provide for colonizing free colored person-^, with 
their own consent, at any jdace or places without the 
United States." 

This proposition contained two measures, one of grad- 
ual emancipation with compensation, and the other recog- 
nizing the freedom of those who had already gained it 
of their own effort. 

Thougli the former was never adopted by the States, 
the latter was afterwards developed into the celebrated 
emancipation proclamation of January 1, 1863. 

The President's mind w^as gradually changing. At first 
he was for avoiding all interference with slavery, except 



76 THE LIFE OP 

SO far as regarded the District of Columbia. Bat the war 
by disclosing the irreconcilable interests of free and slave 
labor taught him that the Union must, to remain invio- 
late, become either all free or all slave. Besides that, sla- 
very was discovered to be a source of strength instead of 
an element of weakness to the rebels so lono- as we res- 

o 

pected it, and it became necessarj^ to the success of the 
war that a blow should be levelled at it. Keluctant to 
the last to inaugurate such a policy, Mr. Lincoln offered 
this bill as a compromise. He accompanied it with these 
words : 

" Among the friends of Union there is great diversity 
of sentiment and of policy, in regard to slavery and the 
African race among us. Some would perpetuate slavery ; 
some would abolish it suddenly and without compensa- 
tion ; some would abolish it gradually and with compen- 
sation; some w^ould remove the freed people from us, and 
some would retain them with us; and there are yet other 
minor diversities. Because of these diversities, we waste 
much strength in struggles among ourselves. By mutual 
concession we should harmonize and act together. This 
would be compromise; but it would be compromise among 
the friends, and not with the enemies of the Union. These 
articles are not intended to embody a plan of such mu- 
tual concessions. If the plan shall be adopted, it is as- 
sumed that emancipation will follow, at least in several 
of the States." 

But it WDS too late. The Southerners would not back 
down, clearly in the wrong as they were, and the war 
w^ent on. 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 77 

During this time Mr. Lincoln worked niglit and day in 
Ins office. 

The routine of his daily life we can give in no better 
words than those in which it is related in the volume of 
Old Abe's Jokes, published by T. E. Dawley : 

'•Mr. Lincoln is an early riser, and he thus is able to de- 
vote two or three hours each morning to his voluminous 
private correspondence, besides glancing at a city paper, 
At nine he breakfasts — then walks over to the war office, 
to read such war telegrams as they give him, (occasionlly 
some are withheld,) and to have a chat with General Hal- 
leck on the military situation, in which he takes a great 
interest. Keturning to the White House, he goes through 
with his morning's mail, in company with a private secre- 
tar}', who makes a minute of the reply which he is to make 
■ — and others the President retains, that he may answer 
them himself Every letter receives attention, and all 
which are entitled to a reply receive one no matter how 
they are worded, or how inelegant the chirography may 
be. 

"Tuesdays and Fridays are cabinet days, but on other 
days visitors at theAYhite House are requested to wait in 
the anti-chamber, and send in their cards. Sometimes, 
before the President has finished reading his mail Louis 
will have a handful of pasteboard, and from the cards laid 
before him Mr. Lincoln has visitors ushered in, giving pre* 
cedence to acquaintances. Three or four hours do they 
pour in, in rapid succession, nine out of ten asking offices, 
and patiently does the President listen to their application. 
Care and anxiety have furrowed his rather homely features 



78 THE LIFE OP 

yet occasionally he is 'reniiiided of an anecdote' and good 
humored glaficcs beam from his clear, grey eyes, while his 
ringing laugh shows that he is not 'used up' yet, The 
simple and natural manner in which he delivers hig 
thoughts makes him appear to those visiting him like an 
earnest, affectionate friend. He makes little parade of his 
legal science, and rarely indulges in speculative proposi- 
tions, but states his ideas in plain Anglo-Saxon, illumina 
ted by many lively images and pleasing allusions, which 
seem to flow as if in obedience to a restless impulse of na* 
ture. Some newspaper admirer attempts to dcn}^ that the 
President tells stories. Why, it is rarely that any one is 
m his companjT^ for five minutes without hearing a good 
tale, appropriate to the subject talked about. Many a 
metaphysical argument does he demolish hy simply tell- 
ing an anecdote, which exactly overturns the verbal struc- 
ture. 

About four o'clock the President declines seeing any 
more company, and often accompanies his wife in her 
carriage to take a drive. He is fond of horseback exer- 
cise, and when passing the summers home, used generally 
to go in the saddle. The President dines at six, and it is 
rare that some personal friends do not grace the round 
dining table where he throws off the cares of office, and 
reminds those who have been in Kentucky of the old 
school gentleman who used to dispense generous hospital- 
ity there. — From the dinner table the party retire to the 
crimson drawing room, where coffee is served, and where 
the President passes the evening, unless some dignitary 
has a special interview. Such is the almost unvarying 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 79 

life of Abraham Lincoln, wliose administration will rank 
next in importanee to that of Washington in our national 
annals. 

His portrait is thus drawn by an English writer : 
'• To say that he is ugly, is nothing ; to add that his 
figure is grotesque, is to convey no adequate impression — ■ 
Fancy a man over six feet high, and then out of propor- 
tion ; with long bony arms and legs, which somehow seem 
to be always in the way, with great, rugged, furrowed 
hands, which grasp you like a vice when shaking yours; 
with a long snaggy neck, and a chest too narrow for the 
^reat arms at its side. Add to this figure a head cocoa, 
nut shaped and somewhat too small for such a stature, 
covered with rough, uncombed and uncomable hair, that 
stands out in every direction at once ; a face furrowed, 
wrinkled and indented, as though it had been scarred by 
vitrol ; a liigh narrow forehead, and sunk deep beneath 
bushy eyebrows, two bright, dreamy eyes, that seem to 
gaze through you without looking at you ; a few irregular 
blotches of black, bristly hair, in the place where beard 
and whiskers ought to grow ; a close-set, thin-lipped, stern 
mouth, with two rows of large white teeth, and a nose and 
ears which have been taken by mistake from a head twice 
the size. — Clothe this figure, then, in a 'ong, tight, badly- 
fitting suit of black, creased, soiled and puckered up at 
every salient point of the figure (and every point of this 
figure is salient) put on large, ill-fitting boots, gloves too 
long for the long, hony fingers, and a puffy hat, covered to 
the top with dusty, puify crape ; and then add to this an 
air of strength, physical as well as moral, and a strange 



80 THE LIFE OP 

look of dignity coupled with all tbis grotesqueness, and 
3^ou will have the impression left upon me by Abraham 
Lincoln" 

Many curious anecdotes are told of him and many by 
him, but as these would evidently be out of place in this 
volume wo refer the reader to the work just quoted, where 
a very comj^lete selection may be found. 

In connection with Mr. Lincoln's administration it may 
not bo out of place to make a few remarks with regard 
to the financial measures adopted b}^ Congress, and ap- 
proved by himself 

At the beginning of the war, the public debt was but 
eighty millions. The sum of four hundred millions was 
deemed necessary to purchase 8up)plies, and organize our 
forces. This sum could not be raised in either money or 
goods, without fatal delay. The only two measures left 
were, either to raise it in small sums repeatedly, or at 
once by means of a paper issue. The first method would 
have been the better, but it required time, and in the end 
might not have succeeded. The second could be carried 
into efi'ect immediatel}^, and with absolute certainty of 
success. It presented but one disadvantage — that of legal 
tender. Without this quality, its success was at best very 
equivocal ; with it, tho organization and arming our forces 
could go on without accident or delay. Fully aware of 
its dangerous character, but assured that no other way 
was open to it, Congress passed the law of legal tender, 
and Mr. Lincoln approved it. Since that time, and up to 
the present, (October, 1864), various treasury bills have 
been passed by Congress, all based upon the legal tender 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 81 

act. The debt has increased to the sum of two thou^ind 
millions, of which seven hundred millions are legal tender 
currency, and the remainder short and long bonds, at va- 
rious rates of interest and for various periods. This seven 
hundred millions of currency which, with the State bank's 
issues of one hundred and fifty millions, makes up three 
times as much currency, (foreign debts and domestic cred- 
its neutralizing each other), as the country requires for 
the purposes of trade. It is this which has caused the 
prices of gold and all other products of labor to be three 
times as much as of old. The debt of the country might 
be twice as much as it is, and if the total currency were 
not over three hundred millions, (commercial credits, &c., 
being equal), prices would recede to their former figures 
before the war. For this reason, it has ever been Mr. 
Lincoln's endeavor to curtail the circulation, and in his 
various messages he has always adhered to this desire. 
On the 19th of January, 1863, in a special message to Con- 
gress he took occasion, while approving of the one hun- 
dred million bill it had passed, to deprecate the farther 
issue of United States notes, as tending to inflate and de- 
base the currency. 

But his finalcial minister, Mr. Chase, did not prove 
equal to the emergency. He was accordingly removed on 
the 1st of July, 1864. Mr. Chase could not manage to 
raise money without increasing the currency. He was to 
much bound up in his pet system of National banks. Since 
then, Mr. Fessenden has demonstrated the thing to be 
practicable, and no furthur issues of any moment had 
been made. The debt has increased, but not.the currency. 



82 THE LIFE OP 

And now as regards the debt. It has been a continual 
source of attack bj^ those inimical to Mr. Lincohi's admin- 
istration, that the debt is almost equal to the entire wealth 
of the loyal States. This surplus wealth according to the 
last census, amounted to about 3,000 millions of moveable 
property, and 7,000 millions of real estate. 
^ The latter, of course, being entirelj^ useless as a basis of 
credit or a means of supporting hostilities, we leave out 
of the question. The sum of 3,000 millions therefore truly 
represented, we w^ill say, the moveable or disposable 
wealth of the loyal States in 1860. 

Assuming that it has increased to 4,000 millions in the 
meantime, an increase very much below the usual rate 
of augmentation, let us see how much of this has been 
used up in the "war. 

The present debt is 7,000 millions, it is true, but it must 
be remembered though this does not i^epresent over half its 
amount of supplies. The balance represents profits, and 
these profits are returned to the nation. In other words 
the rabid and reckless contractors and sutlers, have not 
failed to charge double prices for every thing furnished to 
the Government or soldiers, so that 7,000 millions of debt 
only represent 1,000 millions of property consumed in the 
w^ar. These unconscionable practices no longer exists, for 
the Government is now wide awake , and cannot be 
cheated so easily as it was with the Cataline, and the $3 
condemned muskets, and other runious contracts made at 
the outset of the war. 

Contractors and sutlers now-a-days can do little more 



ABRAHAM LINroLN. 83 

than make an honest living. The days of public rapine- 
are gone by. 

Thus we perceive that, with a debt that represents but 
1,000 millions of actual property, out of 4,000 millions of 
actual wealth, to say nothing of our lands and the biild- 
ings and other improvements thereon, the people of the 
loyal United States have suffered but little in the aggre- 
gate, even from four years of gigantic warfare. 

This fact alone should shed lustre'upon the head of Mr. 
Lincoln, who by his own strick regard for law and his ad- 
miral measures of Administration, has kept the nation 
intact, and enabled it to persue, even in the midst of war, 
those peaceful arts, which alone can furnish means to 
mantain a protracted struggle in the field. 

Among the many admirable qualities of Mr. Lincoln, 
there is none so noticeable as the w^armth and purity of 
style which characterizes his correspondence and official 
documents. This is at once an index to the man's nature ; 
a nature lofty, simple, and ardent. What could be more 
truly sublime than the sentiments addressed by Mr. Lin- 
coln to the workingmen of Manchester, in response to a 
letter from them approving of his manly and patriotic 
course of action in the government of this country during 
the two years and a half of civil war ? What more simple 
land unaffected than the charming note he addressed to Mr. 
i Hackett, the actor ? What more ardent than the impas- 
sioned appeal he addressed to the country upon the sub- 
ject of the gradual Emancipation bill already quoted. Said 
A. Lincoln in this memorable document : 

" 1 do not forget the gravity which should characterize 



84 THE LIFE OP 

a paper addressed to the Congress of the nation, by the 
Cbicf Magistrate of the nation. Nor do I forget that some 
of you are my seniors, nor that many of you have more 
experience than I, in the conduct of public affairs. Yet, I 
trust that in view of the great responsibility resting upon 
me, you will perceive no want of respect to yourselves, in 
any undue earnestness I may seem to display." 

"Is it doubted, then, that the plan I propose, if adopted 
would shorten the war, and thus lessen its expenditure of 
money and of blood ? Is it doubted that it would restore 
the national authority and national prosperity, and per- 
petuate both indefinitely ? Is it doubted that we here — 
Congress and Executive — can secure its adoption ? Will 
not the good people respond to a united and earnest ap- 
peal from us ? Can we, can they, by any other means, so 
certainly or so speedily, assure these vital objects ? We 
can succeed only by concert. It is not 'can any of us im- 
agine better,' but 'can we all do better V 

" The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the 
stormy present. The occasion is piled high with diffi- 
culty, and we must rise with the occasion. As cur case is 
new, so we must think anew, and act anew. We must 
disenthrall ourselves, and then we shall save our country. 
" Fellow-citizens, we cannot escape history. We, of 
this Congress and this administration, will be remembered 
in spite of ourselves. No personal significance, or insig- 
nificance, can spare one or another of us. The fiery trial 
through which we pass will light us down in honor or 
dishonor, to the latest generation. We say we are for the 
Union. The world will not forget that we say this. We 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 85 

know how to save tiit Uiiioii. The world knows we 
do know how to save it. \Vc — even ive licre — hold the 
power, and bear the responsibiliij'. In giving freedom to 
the slave we assure freedom to the free — honorable alike 
in that we give and what we preserve. We shall nobly 
save, or m6anly lose, the last best iiope of earth. Other 
means may succeed ; this could not fail. The way is plain, 
peaceful, generous, just — a way which, if followed, the 
world will forever applaud, and God must forever bless." 

The writer is no hero-worshipper, and has refrained 
during the course of this work from rendering many a 
just tribute to Mr. Lincoln's character, for fear of falling 
into a st^de of adulation, but ho appeals to any right- 
minded man, whatever be his political opinions, to say 
whether the foregoing extract is not full ot beauties which 
necessarily reflect the mind that conceived it. 

The italics are copied from the original, or we should 
have wished to italicise these lines. 

" Above cdj fellow citizens, we cnnncn i;'<enpr history, We of 

this Congress, and this Administration, icill be rcineinbercd in 

spite of ourselves^''. What sincerity and .truthfulness of 

m!nd shines all through these sentences! t.. The fiery trial 

\ through which we pass will light us down in honor or dis^ 

^ honor to the latest ge7ie7'atm\ Can the lips which uttered 



theg^e wOfctS'T^^^ tliose ofan obscene joker, tlie character 
with Avhich he is charged by his political enemies ? 
■^JLWc say we are for the Union. The world will not forget 
that we say this." Can the mind which prompted these 
noble words be the same, which, as these same enemies 
charge, longed for a ribald song over the heroic cerements 



86 THE LIFE OP 

of Gett3^sburg ? Impossible. The stately march of such a 
phrase as this never issued from a brain capable of low de- 
sires or impure thoughts, fin giving freedom to the slave^ 
4tr assure freedom to the free — honorhle alike in lohat we give, 
and what we 2')reserve.'jf Mr. Lincoln is unquestionably of 
an affable temper and cheerful turn of mind ; he has 
an encouraging smile for this one, a joke for that, and 
a kind word for all. But he is never obscene in his 
seasonable merriment, and those who ascribe to him such 
a quality seriously mistake his character. 

"What can be more becoming, more respectful, more de_ 
corous, than this paragraph ? 

C'^ Ido not forget the gravity lohich shoxdd characterize a 
paper addressed to the Congress of the nation by the Chief Ma- 
gistrate of the nation. Nor do I forget that some of you are 
my seniors ; nor that many of you have more experience than 
I, in the conduct of public affairs, " ^ 

How like, it sounds, to the dignified address of Othello to 
the Venetian Senate, commeucing : "Most potent, grave, 
and reverend segniors. 

Be assured, fellow citizens, the man who can employ 
such language as this, upon occasions so eventful, is worthy 
of any distinction to which you can elevate him. What- 
ever the homeliness of his exterior, depend upon it, that 
honesty and true worth dwells beneath all. 

In former days of European tumult the poscssors of those 
masterpieces of art, each of which was a princely fortune 
of itself, resorted to, a curious artifice to preserve their 
treasures from the sack and pillage of conquering armies. 
They covered over their pictures with a composition upon 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 87 

wLicli a second piciuro could be painted. This second or 
outer picture was purposely executed as rudely as possi- 
ble in order that its humble and unattractive appearance 
might save it from being a deniable object to the marau- 
ders. 

In this manner a vast number of priceless masterpeices 
escape destruction, although at the total cost of their merit, 
until some appreciative hand of modern days detects the 
false daub, and patiently removes it to disclose the match- 
less future beneath. % 

It is such a task as this which we w^ould delight to per- 
form for the character of Mr. Lincoln — but our space for- 
bids it, nor is it scarcely necessary in his case. The entire 
nation has long since discovered what merits he possesses 
millions of human eyes gazing upon him at once, how 
pierce his faults and disclose his motives, and the verdict 
of the people is, taking him for all in all, we call him 
^'Honest Abe.'' 

We now apj)roach those events of Mr. Lincoln's life, 
w^hich bear more pointedly upon the issues of the present 
political campaign, and shall endeavor to dispose of them 
as fairty and lightly as possible. 

Upon his accession to power there were, as we have 
said, but two political parties — that for, and that against 
the South. 

After the battle of Bull Eun, and particularly after the 
Peninsular campaign, there began to be a greater diver- 
sity of opinion on national subjects. It was felt that the 
war was not to be a short one, and many honest citizens 
bc^an to inquire if it were not possible to pay too great a 



88 THE LIFE OP 

price for Union. This produced the peace party, who dif- 
fered from the Coj^perheads, or Secessionists, in this, that 
while they were in favor of letting the South go, they 
were so, not because they thought she has right, but be- 
cause they feared that she would ultimately succeed, and 
all our energies have been needlessly wasted in attempt- 
ing to prevent her. Besides that, they looked with alarm 
upon encroachments the government was obliged to make 
upon some of the reserved rights of the States, as in the 
case of a national currency, a conscription law, &c. They 
also apprehended nothing short of a declared despotism, 
from the cases of military and political arrests, &c., which 
now and then unavoidably occurred, and desired to put a 
stop to it at once. 

The arrest of the Maryland Legislature and the incarce- 
ration of some irrepressible secessionists made them liken 
Mr. Lincoln to Oliver Cromwell, Democracy began to 
tremble for its existence. But they mistook the man, that's 
all. The fire of liberty truly is eternal vigilance, but the 
country might go to sleep and safely leave Abraham Lin-i 
coin to take a generous and jealous care of its liberties. 

Then another party began to spring up. There were a 
number of jealous emancipationist who forgot that a nation 
is a cumbrous body and necessarily moves slowly, who were 
dissatisfied with Mr. Lincoln's slow and careful steps to- 
wards the settlement of the great question of negro 
slavery in the United States. They foresaw that in 
order to terminate the war, slavery must be forever ex- 
terminated, but they forgot that they were still but a 
minority, and that to but a remedy in force, which was 



This necessary time the Radicals wei\e- for jumpiDg over. ,/ 
To this Mr. Liocoln O^ected. =mie;f-accordiiigl7 be^an 



i^ ^. i 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 89 

opposed to the wishes of the majority, we only cause ^• 
the evil to be the more adb cared to. Time was required, | 
as well as some more actual experience, to convince the | 
nation that Union was impossible Hinder the old terms. 

i Radicals wei\c- 

)^ected. =ffhe;f- 
to hnte faip;|^ ^;p^|jj^r>r]jj^miiqf ^d cordi^ity . Tiie}' donoiigac^ 
him in Congress, and a.ttficked him ijxa^piu'tisan presa 
which they established, at the head of wliichwas. the i\"ei6! ,- 
Nation] puBlished by Cien. Fremont in S'.^s^.XoiJ^-.JEj^ni 
the pulpit he was anathematized by such eimnent .poli^».s«> 
cal divi*tes*a« the Eev. Dr. Cheev_e^'^.;^h.ijig,^J^^,rostriim_^ 
poured forth ^bpld denunciations through tlie speeches of. 
Wendell Phillips. All Eadicaldom_ was in arms q^ju"^^ 
bjiQ^ At thii..sa]XLe.,tn]g^fiJiiHw«^^ 

the peac^ £arty £i\the.Jiemo«*;iULyLr^aja4Jia4...Mi-i^^^ f^ll . 
with the war, the government, and the copperheads, or 
secessionists. 

But all these assau'tg^piwed futile. Mr. Lincoln was 
not to be swayed,^ either by book or bell. He. kept on ^he 
even. t45nor of iiis way, with but ^pue object iii^\:Juw— .Ur2- 
ion— all else being subservient to this one great idea. 

When the time came to nommate a successor to the 
office henad filled with so much ability and integrity for 
over three years, Mr. Lincoln was again almost unanim- 
ously chosen by the convention, this time assembled at 
Baltimore. The vote for President in the Baltimore non^- 
inating convention, June 9, 1864, was as follows. : 

For Mr. Lincoln. — Maine 14, New Hampshire 10, Yer- 
mont 10, Massachusetts 24, Rhode Island 8, Connecticut 



90 THE LIFE OP 

12, New York 66, New Jersey 14, Pennsylvania 52, Dela- 
ware 6, Maryland 14, Louisiana 14, Arkansas 10, Tennes- 
see 15, Kentucky 22, Ohio 42, Indiana 26, Illinois 32, Mich- 
igan 16, Wisconsin 16, Iowa 16, Minnesota 8, California 10, 
Oregon 6, West Virginia 10, Kansas 6, ISTebraska 6, Colo- 
rado 6, N'evada 6. Total 497. 

For Gen. Grant. — Missouri 22. 

The following are the resolutions constituting the 2:)lat- 
form : 

Eesolved, That it is the highest dut}^ of every American 
citizen to maintain against all their enemies the integrity 
of the Union and the paramount authority of the Consti- 
tution and laws of the United States, and that, laying 
aside all differences and political opinions, we pledge our- 
selves as Union men, animated by a common sentiment 
and aiming at a common object, to do everything in our 
power to aid the government in quelling by force of arms 
the rebellion now raging against its authority, and in 
bringing to the punishment due to their crimes the rebels 
and traitors arrayed against it. 

Hesolved, That we approve the determination of the gov- 
ernment of the United States not to compromise with 
rebels or to oifer any terms of peace, except such as may 
be based upon an "unconditional surrender" of their hos- 
tility and a return to their just allegiance to the Constitu- 
tion and laws of the United States; and that we call 
upon the government to maintain this position, and to 
prosecute the wa;' with the utmost possible vigor to the 
complete suppression of the rebellion, in full reliance upon 
the self-sacrifices, the patriotism, the heroic valor and the 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 91 

undying devotion of the American people to their coun- 
try and its free institutions. 

Resolved^ That as slavery was the cause and now con- 
stitutes the strength of this rebellion, and as it must be 
always and everywhere hostile to the principles of Repub- 
lican government, justice and national safety demand its 
utter and complete extirpation from the soil of the re- 
public, and that we uphold and maintain the acts and proc- 
lamations by which the government, in its own defence, 
has aimed a death blow at this gigantic evil ; we are in 
favor, furthermore, of such an amendment to the Consti- 
tution, to be made by tlie people, in conformity with its 
provisions, as shall terminate and for ever prohibit the 
existence of slavery within the limits or the jurisdiction 
oi the United States. 

Resolved, That the thanks of the American people are 
due to the soldiers and sailors of the army and navy 
(applause), who have periled (heir lives in defense of their 
country and in vindication of the honor of the flag ; that 
the nation owes to them some permanent recognition of 
their patriotism and their valor, and ample and perma- 
nent provisions for those of their survivors who have re- 
ceived disabling and honorable wounds in the service of 
the country; and that the memories of those who have 
fallen in its defense shall be held in grateful and everlast- 
ing remembrance. 

Resolved, That we approve and applaud the practical 
wisdom, the unselfish patriotism, and unswerving fidelity 
to the Constitution and the principles of American liberty 
which Abraham Lincoln has discharged, under circum- 



92 THE LIFE OP 

stances of unparalleled difficulty, the great duties and re- 
sponsibilities of the Presidential office; that we approve 
and indorse, as demanded bj^the emergency and essential 
to the preservation of the nation, and as within the Con- 
stitution, the measures and acts which he has adopted to 
defend the nation against its open and secret foes ; that 
we approve especially the proclamation of emancipation, 
and the employment as Union soldiers of men heretofore 
held in slavery, and that we have full confidence in his 
determination to carry these and all other constitutional 
measures essential to the salvation of the country into 
full and complete effect. 

Resolved^ That we deem it essential to the general wel- 
fare that harmony should prevail in the national councils 
and we regard as worthy of public confidence and official 
trust these only who cordially indorse the principles pro- 
claimed in these resolutions, and which should charac. 
terize the administration of the government. 

Resolved^ That the government owes to all men em- 
j)loyed in its arrfiies, without regar d to distinction of 
color, the full protection of the laws of war, and that any 
vio'ation of these laws or of the usuages of civilized na- 
tions in the time of war by the rebels now in arms should 
be made the subject of full and prompt redress. 

Resolved^ That the foreign immigration which in the 
past has added so much to the wealth and development of 
resources and increase of power to this nation, the asj'lum 
of the oppressed of all nations, should be fostered and en, 
couraged by a liberal and just policy 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 93 

Resolved, That we are in favor of the speedy construc_ 
tion of the railroad to the Pacilic. 

Resolved, That the national faith pledged for the redemp- 
tion of the public debt, must be kept inviolate, and that for 
this purpose we recommend economy and rigid resj)onsi- 
biiity in the public expenditures, and a vigorous and just 
system of taxation; that it is the duty of every loyal state 
to sustain the credit and promote the use of the national 
currency. 

Resolved, That we approve the position taken by the 
government that the people of the United States can never 
regard with indifference the attempt of any European 
power to overthrow by force or to supplant by fraud the 
institutions of any republican government on the Western 
Continent, and that they will view with extreme jealousy 
as menacing to the peace and independence of this our 
country, the efforts of any such power to obtain new foot- 
holds for monarchial governments sustained by a foreign 
military force in near proximity to the United States. 

Upon the news of his nomination being presented to 
Mr. Lincoln on the following day he made this charac 
teristic acceptance : 

Gentlemen : I can only say in response to the remarks 
of yoLir chairman, I suppose, that I am very grateful for 
the renewed confidence which has been accorded to me, 
both by the convention and by the ]N"ational League. I 
am not insensible at all to the personal compliment there 
is in this, yet I do not allow myself to believe that any 
but a small portion of it is to be appropriated as a personal 
compliment. The convention and the nation, I am assured. 



94 THE LIFE OP 

are alike animated by a higher view of the interests of the 
country for the present and the great future, and that part 
I am entitled to appropriate as a compliment, is onl}^ that 
part which I may lay hold of as being the opinion of the 
convention and of the league — that I am not unworthy to 
be intrusted with the j)lace I have occupied for the last 
three years. I have not permitted myself, gentlemen, to 
conclude that I am the best man in the country; but I am 
reminded in this connexion of a story of an old Dutch 
farmer, who remarked to a companion once, that '' it was 
not best to swap horses when crossing streams." 

The laughter and applause which followed these re- 
marks told the President he had not judged amiss of the 
cheerful confiding mood in which the momination had 
been made by the Convention. Gov. Andrew Johnson, of 
Tennessee, has associated with him in the ticket as can- 
didate for Vice-President. 

But the Radicals had nominated Gen. Fremont, and 
were determined to carry him. It was only when Mr. 
Lincoln, in order to place himself above the ordinary am- 
biguity of party platforms, issued his message "To whom 
it may Concern," that the Eadicals at once forsook the 
leader they had chosen, and ranged themselves under the 
banner of " Lincoln, Union, and Liberty ! " His message 
declared that Union was impossible without slavery was 
exterminated. The time had come. Mr. Lincoln fol- 
lovv-ed it with reluctance, fearing that public opinion was 
not j^et ripe. But he was not a day too soon. Even the 
Democracy had declared for Union. The question, therefore, 
was whether we should have a Union free from a system 



ARRAHA LINCOLN. 95 

which had continually threatened its existence, or one 
which should be open to the same sad experiences we had 
already so long undergone. 

The message just alluded to was sent in reply to a proposi- 
tion on the part of Clement C. Clay, Jacob Thompson, and 
James P. Holcombe, three Southerners, (who had applied 
for permission to visit Washington "as bearers of propo- 
sitions looking to the establishment of peace,") upon the dis- 
covery that they had no authority from Eichmond to treat 
of^ially upon such a subject. It was thus worded : — 

ExECUTiYE Mansion, Washington, D. C, ) 
July 18th, 1864. J 

To WHOM IT MAY CONCERN : — 

Any propositions which embraces the restoration of 
peace, the integrity of the lohole Union, and the abandon- 
ment of slavery, and which comes by and with an author- 
ity that can control the armies now at war against the 
United States, will be received and considered by the 
executive government of the United States, and will be 
met by liberal terms on other substantial and collateral 
points, and the bearer and bearers thereof shall have safe 
conduct both ways. 

ABRAHAM LINCOLK 

The above named persons having been unauthorized to 
treat upon the questions at issue gave up immediately^ the 
correspondence ; which after over a week being employed 
upon it practically resulted in nothing, 
general Fremont having under date of September 21st, 
18^47'W4thdrawn from the Presidential contest, the strug- 
gle rested solely between Abraham Lincoln, Eepublican, 
and G-eneral McClellan, Democrat. On the eighth of No- 
J^er, 1864, the vote was taken throughout the loyal 




96 THE LIFE OP 

States, and resulted iiKthe re-election of the former to 
office for a second terni/ The Democratic candidate car- 
ried but three states, t4z. : Delaware, Kentucky and JSTew 
Jersey, altogether giving him but twenty-one electoral 
votes ; while the Eepublican candidate carried twenty-two 
states, giving him two hundred and thirteen electoral 
votes; thus allowing Mr. Lincoln a majority in the Elec- 
toral College of 192 votes, although but 118 were all that 
were necessary to secure him the victory. 

Mr. Lincoln was but the sixth President who had been 
elected to serve for a second terra, although sixteen had, 
up to that time, filled the chair of the chief magistrate. 
The other five thus chosen were, George Washington, re- 
elected 1792; Thomas Jefferson, re-elected 1804; James 
Madison, re-elected 1812 ; James Monroe, re-elected 1820 : 
and Andrew Jackson, re-elected 1832. 

On the 31st of January, 1865, the Amendment to the 
Constitution, abolishing slavery, was carried in the House 
of Congress, and the next night a band of music serenaded 
the President at the White House. In repty he appeared 
at the centre window under the portico and said he thought 
the measure was a very fitting, if not ^n indispensible ad- 
junct to the winding up of the great difficlilty." He wished 
the re-union of all the States perfected, and in so effective 
a manner as to remove all causes of disturbance in the 
future; and to attain this end it was necessary that the 
original disturbing cause should, if possible, be rooted out. 
He thought they would bear him witness that he "had 
never shrunk from doing all that he could to eradicate 
slavery by issuing an emancipation proclamation." But 
the proclamation in his oj^inion fell "far short of what the 
amendment will be when fully consumated. A question 
might be raised whether the proclamation was legally 
valid. It might be added that it only aided those who 
came into our lines, and that it was inoperative as to those 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 97 

who did not give themselves u]), or that it would have no 
effect upon the children of the slaves born hereafter. In 
fact it would be urged that it did not meet the evil. But 
this amendment is a king's cure for all the evils. It winds 
the whole thing up." He then closed by stating that he 
could not but congratulate all present, himself, the country 
and the whole world upon the great moral victory. 

The next important point in President Lincoln's career 
was the part he took in the famous Peace Conference which 
was lield in Hampton Roads during the early part o± Feb- 
ruary, 1865. In order to get a clear insight into the 
whole affair it is necessary to state that on December 28th, 
1864, President Lincoln gave F. P. Blair, Sen., a pass to 
go South and return ; but not to treat with the rebels in 
any way on the part of the Government. Mr. Blair on 
his return brought a letter from Jefferson Davis; dated 
January 12th, 1865, and stating that he was willing "to 
enter into negotiations for the restoration of peace, and 
ready to send a commissioner'' for that purpose. The 
letter wound up by stating that he would appoint a com- 
missioner "and renew the effort to enter into a conference 
with a view to secure peace to the two countries^ 

To this President Lincoln wrote the following reply : — 

Washington, Jan. 18, 1865. 

F. P. Blair, Esq. — Sir : You having shown me Mr. Da- 
vis' letter to you of the 12th inst., you may say to him 
that 1 have constantly been, am now, and shall continue 
ready to receive any agent whom he or any other influ- 
ential person now resisting the National authority may 
informally send me with a view of securing Peace to the 
people of our common country. 

Yours, etc., 

A. LINCOL]^, 

It will be seen that although desirous for peace the 
President would not even allow a suspicion to remain, that 



98 THE LIFE OF 

he might give up the Union, by a silent acceptance of the 
conclusion of Mr. Davis' communication ; and when the 
reply was shown to that rebel ofiScial on January 21st, he 
stated that such was his understanding of the docuraent. 

On the 29th of January A. H. Stephens, the Kebel Vice 
President, K. M. T. Hunter, President of the Rebel Senate, 
and J. A. Campbell, Assistant Secretary of War for the 
Eebel government, applied for permission to pass through 
the lines to confer with the President at Washington, in- 
formally, in order "to ascertain upon what terms the war 
could be terminated honorably.'* They were however not 
permitted to visit the National Capital ; but under proper 
restrictions were escorted b}" direction of Mr. Lincoln to 
Hampton Roads where they occupied quarters on board a 
steamer anchored off Fortress Monroe. 

In the mean time, supposing a proper point had been 
reached for negotiations. President Lincoln despatched the 
Secretary of State with the following instructions : — 

Executive Mansion, Washington, ") 
January 31, 1865. J 

Hon. Wm. H. Seward, Secretary of State : 

You will proceed to Fortress Monroe, Yirginia, there to 
meet and informally confer with Messrs. Stephens, Hunter 
and Campbell, on the basis of my letter to F. P. Blair, Esq., 
of January 18th^ 1865, a copy of which you have. You 
will make known to them that three things are indispensi- 
ble, to wit : First, the restoration of the National authority 
throughout all the States; second, no receding by the Execu- 
tive of the United States on the Slavery question from the 
position assumed thereon in the late annual Message to Con- 
gress, and in the jyreceding documents; no cessation of hostili- 
ties short of the end of the war, and the disbanding of all the 
forces hostile to the Government. You will inform them 
tliat all propositions of theirs, not inconsistent with the 
above, will be considered, and passed upon in a spirit of 
sincere liberality. You will hear all they may choose to 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 99 

say, and report it to me. Yoa will not assume to definitely 
consummate any thing. 

Yours, &c., 

ABKAHAM LINCOLN. 

The next morning, February 1st, in order to prevent 
any attempt at a trick on the part of the rebels he sent a 
cipher dispatch to General Grant informing him that noth- 
ing then transpiring was to "change, hinder, or delay" any 
of his military movements or plans. 

In rej^ly General Grant intimated to Secretary Stanton 
that it might be as well if the President could personally 
be present at the conference, as he, the General, believed 
"their desire sincere to restore peace and Union," alluding 
to the three persons then within the lines. To whicli Air. 
Lincoln, ever desirous for peace under such circumstances, 
telegraphed on the morning of February 2d to Secretary 
Seward as follows : "Induced by a dispatch from General 
Grant I join you at Fortress Monroe as soon a^ I can 
come." And to G-eneral Grant he telegraphed: "Say to 
the gentlemen that I will meet them personally at Fortress 
Monroe, as soon as I can get there." 

President Lincoln arrived at the Fortress on the night of 
February 2d, plainly showing that he had delayed no time 
when he believed a peace could be obtained upon the basis 
of the Union, and next mornhig, February 3d, joined the 
Secretary of State ad Major Eckert on board a neutral 
Steamer then anchored in the " lloads." The throe informal 
commissioners then came on board and had an interview of 
several hours duration with the President and Secretary of 
State. The basis of the conference which was verbal was in 
accordance with the President's instructions to Secrerary 
Seward on their ifdrt ; while on the part of the rebels no 
propositions for re-union were made, only a desire for a post- 
ponement of that question until other minor questions could 
be settled. As this course would in Mr. Lincoln's opinion 



100 THE LIFE OP 

amount to indefinite postponement, he did not choose to act 
upon it and " the conference ended without result." 

On the 4th of March 18G5, Abraham Lincobi was a second 
time sworn into office as President of the United States for 
the term ending March 4th, 1869. After talcing the oath of 
office, which was administered by Chief Justice Chase, Pres- 
ident Lincoln delivered the inaugural address of which the 
following is an extract : — 

*' Fellow-countrymen :" 

" At this second appearing to take the oath of the Presi- 
dential office, there is less occasion for an extended address 
than there was at the first. Then a statement somewhat in 
detail of a course to be puisued seemed very fitting and 
proper. Now, at the expiration of four years, during which 
public declarations have been constantly called forth on every 
point and phase of the great contest which still absorbs the 
attention and engrosses the energies of the nation, little 
that is new could be presented." 

^ ^ * at * * * 

" On the occasion corresponding to this four years ago, all 
thoughts were anxiously directed to an impending civil war. 
All dreaded it ; all sought to ayoid it. While the inaugural 
add less was being delivered from this place, devoted alto- 
gether to saving the Union without war, iiisurgent agents 
were in the city seeking to destroy it without war — seeking 
to dissolve the Union and divide the efi'ects b}^ negotiation. 
Both parties deprecated the war, but one of them would 
make war rather than let the nation survive, and the other 
would accept war rather than let the nation perish, and the 

war came." 

******* 

" Both read the same Bible and pray to the same God, and 
each invoke his aid against the other. It may seem strange 
that any men should dare to ask a just God's assistance in 
wringing their bread from tiie sweat of other men's faces, 
but let us judge not, that we bo not judged. The prayers 
of both should not be answered. Ti^at of neither has been 
answered fully. * * * QVindiy do wehope, fer- 
vently do we pray, that this migh^^scoTtT^tTor'^^ may 
speedily pass away. Yet, if God wills that it continue 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 101 

until all the wealth piled by the bondman's two hundred and 
fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every 
drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another 
drawn with the sword, as was said three thousand j^ears ag-o; 
so, still it must be said, that the judgments of the Lord are 
trjie and righteous altogether. 

(y -With malice towards none, with chaity for all, loith firm- 
ness vft^he right, as God gives us to see right, let us finish the 
work we are in, to bind up the nation'' s wounds, to care for him 
who shall have home the battle and for his ividow and his or- 
phans, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and a 
lasting peace among ourselves and with all 7iations.^'^im. 

With such words Mr. Lincoln entered upon his 5?^ond term 
of office determined to prosecute the war for the Union with 
firmness, yet, " with malice toward none and with charity 
for all." 

About the beginning of fourth week in March President 
Lincoln left Washington for the purpose of paying a visit to 
the Army, arriving at City Point on the evening of March 
24th. The object of the visit at that time was kept secret ; 
but it has since been ascertained that it was at the request 
of General Grant who advised him to be present at the cap- 
ture of the rebel capital ; everything being then in readiness 
for a forward movement. 

The President took up his residence at City Point from 
which place he, on March 31st, telegraphed the victory at the 
Boydton Plank Road of the previous day. On the two fol- 
lowing days, April 1st and 2nd, he announced to the country 
through the Secretary of War the successful movement made 
by General Grant on the left of his line, especially the .bril- 
liant victories of Sheridan's column, and on April 3d, 1865, it 
was a dispatch signed " A. Lincoln," that gave to the country 
the joyful intelligence that the Kebel Capital and Petersburg 
had fallen. He visited the latter city during that afternoon 
and was well received by the citizens, 

During the next day. President Lincoln visited Richmond 
"or the purpose dfe holding counsel with all who might be de- 



102 THE LIFE OF 

sirous of lending a helping hand toward the restoration of 
the Union. He left City Point by water and landed at Rock- 
etts . Without any ostentation or show of desiring to be 
considered a conqueror, he walked into the fallen Rebel Cap- 
ital merely attended by a small guard, and proceeded to the 
headquarters of the military commander ; where he received 
the congratulations of the people of the city and of tlie offl- 
cers of the army. Having subsequently taken a carriage 
ride through the city he returned to Rocketts and re-embarked. 

While in Richmond he held a consultation with Ex-Judge 
Campbell and Mr. Myres, a member of the late rebel Con- 
gress, in order if possible to to bring about a Union fooling 
among the peoplt, and the laying down of the arms of those 
still in rebellion in that State. 

On the 9th of April he returned to Washington where he 
was enabled to receive the congratulations of the people on 
the announcement of the surrender of the whole army under 
General Lee, and the virtual end of the rebellion. Shortly 
afterwards the draft, which had been the terror of the coun- 
try, was stopped and the prospects of approaching peace 
w^ere good. 

' President Lincoln, accompanied by his wife, Mrs Harris 
and Major Rathburn visited Ford's theatre on the night of 
April 14th, 1865. They did not startr.nntil about fifteen min- 
utes after eight, and the President manifested some appar- 
ent reluctance about going ; but it having been announced 
that he would be present he overcame the feeling and went. 
During the performance of the third act of the, " American 
Cousin," a man, recognized as J. Wilkes Booth, the actor, en- 
tered the Presidential box and shot him from behind, the 
pistol ball penetrating nearly through the head, above and 
back of the temporal bone. The wound was mortal. 

Having inflicted the injury the assassin sprang to the front 
of the box and waving in his right hand a long knife or dag- 
ger exclaimed " Sic semper tyrannis'^ (thus always to ty- 
rants) ; then leaping from the box, which was on the second 
tier, to the stage beneath, rushed across it and, amid the be- 
wilderment, made his escape by the rear of the building; 
where a horse being in readiness he at once mounted and 
fled. 

The screams of Mrs Lincoln soon announced the fearful 
tragedj^ and the excitement among the audience was intense. 
The dying President was removed to a private house oppoJ 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 103 

site the theatre, and the Surgeon General of the army and 
other surg-eons were speedily in attendance. The case was, 
however, soon discovered to be hopeless and the sad fact 
was announced to the country by telegTaph. 

The attack was the result of some deep-laid scheme ; for 
about the same time a nearly successful attempt was made 
Inpon the life of Hon. W. H. Seward, Secretary of State, and 
the persons of other members of the government were also 
threatened. 

After lying in a state of syncope during the whole night 
President Lincoln died at twenty-two minutes past seven on 
the morning of April 15th, 18G5, aged 56. 

On the receipt of the news the whole country was plunged 
into grief and tokens of mourning were universal. 

The body was then embalmed and laid in state in the 
East Room of the White House until^ednesda}^, April 19th, 
when the funeral obsequies was per|brmed ; after which the 
body was removed to the Capitol of v VVasliington in order 
that the grieved people of the nation'"might look upon the 
face of their revered President before the body should be con- 
signed to the tomb. 

On the morning of Friday, April 21st, the remains of the 
President left Washington for Baltimore, where they remained 
until 3 o'clock in the afternoon, then were transported to 
Harrisburg, Pa, remaining there until noon the next day 
when the line of march was taken up for Philadelphia, ' In 
the principal room of Independence Hall, and near the old 
bell, the body of the first murdered President of the United 
States lay in State during the whole of Sunday, and early on 
Monday morning left the " Quaker City" for New York where 
it remained in State about twenty-four hours, after which 
amid the largest and most solemn pageant ever known in 
the conutry the body was escorted to the Railroad depot en 
route for Albany. It arrived shortly before midnight, on the 
evening of April 25th, remained there over night and leaving 
the place during the latter portion of the afternoon of April 
26th, reached Buffalo at seven in the morning of the 27th. 
Leaving that city two hours before midnight, of the 27th, it 
arrived at Cleaveland, Ohio, at seven o'clock in the morning of 
the 28th, and remaining all day left at midnight and reached 
Columbus, Ohio, at half past seven on the morning of April 
29th. Remaining in that city all day, the line of march was 



104 * THE LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 

taken up at eight o'clock in tlie evening and the remains 
reached Indianapolis at seven o'clock on Sunday morning, 
April 30th. At midnight of the same day the body was re- 
moved to Chicago where it arrived at eleven o'clock on May 
1st and remained there until half past nine on Tuasday eve- 
ning May 2d, the body lying in state part of the time. At that 
hour it w^as removed to Springfield and at eight o'clock on 
the morning of Ma}^ 3d, arrived at the depot of that city 
where it was taken in charge of by those who had to attend 
to the final ceremony of interment ; a plot of ground having 
been set apart in the centre of the city for the reception of 
he body and the erection of a monument over it. 

In memory of the Martyr President subscriptions were 
started in several cities for the erection of a suitable monu- 
ment to his memo.iy and the fund for a splendid one was 
raised in New York by dollar subscription; no one person be- 
ing allowed to contribute a larger sum. This monument was 
to be located in the O^tral Park or some other prominent 
position in the Empii^city. 

Thus has passed away from ont of our midst one of the 
finest men who has ever held the reins of a National Gov- 
ernment. Honest even to a fault, with a heart that has wept 
many bitter tears for his nation's calamity and, although the 
hand was stern to wield the sword of justice when the rights 
of his fellow man were trampled upon, still when the erring 
brother repented of his folly the right hand of fellowship was 
held out without reproof and without censure. " Lay down 
your arms and return to the Union and your brethren will 

jf-make you welcome." 

'^ Abraham Lincoln combined within him the firmness of 
"1)1(1 Hickory," with tlie nobleness of George Wasington. 
The first President of the United States fought to create the 
Union, Jackson swore it should be maintained and Lincoln 
was murdered because he was determined to perpetuate it."^-^ 



" Slain while a generous peace 
With hopeful heart he planned 

Slain while he prayed — 'Let discord cease 
The olive in his hand.' " 



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